Cairo, January 26, 2022 — EVA Pharma, the innovation-led healthcare company based in Egypt, is set to manufacture the oral drug Molnupiravir® for the treatment of hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19.

 

The announcement comes in the wake of a decision by the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) to grant an emergency use license for Molnupiravir®. Egypt is therefore set to be the first country in the Middle East or Africa to manufacture the drug.

 

The drug, taken in the form of oral capsules, limits the ability of the coronavirus to replicate and helps in eliminating it from the body. In international clinical trials it was shown that, of around 775 patients who took the drug, only 3.7 percent subsequently needed hospitalization, compared to 13.8 percent of patients in a control group who did not receive the drug. It is more effective in patients whose condition is liable to deteriorate and who are likely to require hospitalization.

 

During the first stages of its deployment in Egypt it will be available in hospital settings only, due to the medical supervision required when it is administered.

 

The manufacture of the new drug in Egypt also coincides with its introduction to the markets in the USA and the UK.

 

Egypt has now achieved self-sufficiency in the necessary treatments for patients with COVID-19 and its variants. The local pharmaceutical industry has played an important role, with firms like EVA Pharma mobilizing to produce treatments such as remdesivir and favipiravir.

Dr. George Maher, EVA Pharma’s Global Marketing Director, said that the company has succeeded in manufacturing the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of Molnupiravir® at its Egyptian manufacturing facilities, noting that this achievement was the result of over a year of preparatory work.

“The drug will be manufactured in quantities sufficient for the needs of the local market, and it will also be exported to many countries,” said Dr. Maher, noting that it would be manufactured to the highest quality standards in EVA Pharma’s internationally accredited manufacturing facilities.