Aviptadil not a specific Covid-19 remedy: Experts

KABUL (Pajhwok): Health experts say articles published on internet pages about the effectiveness of aviptadil against the coronavirus are correct but the medicine is not specific to this pandemic.

Two years ago, the disease surfaced for the first time in the Wuhan city of China before it spread almost across the entire world

As a result, hundreds of millions of people worldwide were infected with the disease and more than four million individuals have died of it.

According to a Pajhwok Afghan News report leased on May 17, a total of 95,1462 people have undergone coronavirus tests since the beginning of the pandemic. At least 179,279 tested positive, 162,202 recovered and 7,691 died.

A website named “Medical Procurement Organization” published an article titled: “Discovery of a new Covid medicine with amazing results.”

The report said: “Companies such as “Relio Zarabiotex and NewroX, which are producing drugs in the US, stressed a medicine — RLF-100 or Aviptadil –improved the conditions caused by the virus in just three days.”

The article added the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June authorised the use of this medicine in emergencies to treat respiratory problems for people with the coronavirus.

The website Razi Babol School of Pathobiology and Genetics also published an article titled “The effectiveness of the drug (RLF-100) or aviptadil in the treatment of severe symptoms of Covid.”

Initial studies show aviptadil protects the type II alveolar cells that are responsible for exchanging oxygen in the lungs.

Not a specific drug for Covid: Experts

Dr. Mohammad Hashim Wahaj, director of the Wahaj Private Hospital, said aviptadil was commonly injected into patients.

He recalled research conducted at the time of the coronavirus outbreak showed the drug was somewhat effective in treating the disease.

The first study conducted in the US in July 2021indicated coronavirus patients used the medicine that yielded a good result.

American doctors said the medicine could be used by patients who had shortness of breath.

Dr. Wahaj continued studies on this drug were still underway. At the moment, it is said the drug should be used for treating Covid-19.

Dr. Faridullah Omari, a trainer and specialist at the Intensive Care, said: “This injectable drug is not specific to the treatment of Covid. There is a hypothesis that it helps coronavirus patients.”

He explained so far research had not been completed to prove the drug’s efficacy for Covid patients. But it was not basic cure for the disease, he said.

Dr. Mohammad Basir Khyber, a general internal medicine specialist and consultant in Balkh, also talked about the effectiveness of this medicine. He believed aviptadil was effective for Covid patients.

“Covid patients’ blood pressure rises and thick blood causes lesions to accumulate inside arteries, reducing the diametre of arteries and disrupting blood flows and this drug acts as an artery expander,” he elaborated.

sa/mud