The Medsintez Plant, together with the Ural State Medical University (USMU), continues to work on the manufacture of new drugs on the basis of a full-cycle scientific and educational complex

On January 31, 2023, a TASS press conference was held dedicated to the joint scientific and technological developments of the Ural State Medical University and industrial enterprises of the Sverdlovsk Region. The results of the implementation of the Priority 2030 program in 2022, the cooperation of the university with industrial enterprises of the region, as well as the project for creation of a full-cycle scientific and educational complex for the manufacture of medicines were discussed by Olga Kovtun, rector of USMU, Anatoly Sludnykh, General Director of the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant, and Alexander Petrov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medsintez Plant.

Olga Kovtun, rector of USMU, spoke about the developments that Ural scientists are working on today, such as a new unique bone replacement material for fractures and oncological diseases; a portable ALV device that can be used in ambulances and at home; «smart» defibrillator for hospitals, intensive care units, cardiac surgery and ambulances; the Digital Rehabilitation project – a system of prompts for medical decisions, as well as a project for online monitoring of the condition of children with type 1 diabetes, etc.

Alexander Petrov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medsintez Plant, spoke at the conference about the long-term fruitful cooperation of the plant with the Ural State Medical University. In 2019, at the international exhibition INNOPROM, the Medsintez Plant and USMU signed an agreement to join their efforts in order to create drugs aimed at reducing mortality from cardiovascular and oncological diseases. Alexander Petrov also noted that during the fight against coronavirus, a huge joint work was carried out to conduct clinical trials of the drug Triazavirin. Thus, in 2020, the Board of Studies of the Ural State Medical University approved the guidelines On the Use of Triazavirin for the Treatment and Post-exposure Prevention of the Novel Coronavirus Infection – COVID-19. Also, under the leadership of USMU, on the basis of a large city hospital, trials on the use of the drug Triazavirin in relation to the novel coronavirus infection were conducted, as a result of which high efficiency and safety of both preventive and therapeutic use in patients with COVID-19 were established.

In 2022, clinical studies of the efficacy and safety of the use of Triazavirin in children aged 12-17 years with a diagnosis of acute respiratory viral infections were successfully completed. The Ural State Medical University was one of the clinical bases where trials were carried out.

The drug Triazavirin is included in the federal clinical recommendations Influenza in Adults and ARVI in Adults of the Ministry of Health of Russia as a direct antiviral drug. Triazavirin has already proven itself among general practitioners and infectious disease specialists as an effective and safe drug for the treatment of most respiratory viral infections, including COVID- 19

At the press conference, Alexander Petrov also spoke about the production of drugs for women's reproductive health on the basis of the full-cycle scientific and educational complex of the Medsintez Plant and the Ural State Medical University.

«The scientific and educational complex is a matter of cooperation, we have everything for work – laboratories and developers of the Medical University and the high-tech production facilities of the Medsintez Plant. This provides additional jobs, consumables for the development of drugs, the creation of which requires highly qualified specialists from the Medical University. We are talking about two drugs – they are recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin and Cetrorelix, which are used in the IVF procedure. We have already opened a full- cycle workshop and produced a completely Russian drug of recombinant human follicle- stimulating hormone – Primapur. This is the only product of this class in Russia. New drugs will also be completely Russian. Therefore, Russia will be fully protected from the lack of these drugs. I can promise that there will definitely be medicines for IVF, for diabetes, antiviral drugs in Russia,» Alexander Petrov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medsintez Plant, said.

Since 2018, the Medsintez Plant, in cooperation with iVFarma, has been producing the first Russian preparation of recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) for the treatment of human infertility – Primapur. The production capacity of the FSH preparation at the plant is up to 30 grams of the substance, up to 1 million disposable syringe pens per year. The Medsintez Plant is ready to meet 200% of the annual demand for FSH preparations in Russia.

 ««Such interactions between industrial enterprises and universities will help Russia overcome the problem of lack of medicines. For example, in January alone, we received 3 applications for the introduction of new drugs at the Medsintez Plant. This was not the case before. The need for new Russian technologies and developments is now very high, so we must rely on cooperation in the regions, like it is in the Sverdlovsk Region. I want to emphasize that together we will solve this problem. We continue to work on the development and production of new drugs. For example, we can also create standard substitutes for innovative drugs (patented drugs) at the university, we can also reproduce a drug, but this requires changes to the patent law,» Alexander Petrov said.

At the end of the conference, Olga Kovtun noted that the Sverdlovsk Region was among the top 5 regions of Russia in the production of medicines and stressed that the region had a powerful resource for the production of high-quality medical and pharmaceutical products, that scientists would always work in a team with industrial partners, because this is a common task – to preserve the health of people, children – the future of Russia.

Details in the broadcast of the TASS press conference