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The government approved by emergency ordinance the release of antiviral drug Favipiravir for the outpatient treatment of mild COVID cases, acting Health Minister Cseke Attila announced on Monday.
"This is an emergency ordinance of the government that complements Law No. 136/2020 establishing specific public health measures in situations of epidemiological and biological risk. Basically, under the protocol for the treatment of infectious and contagious diseases, hospital pharmacies can dispense, at the recommendation of the hospital specialist doctor, Favipiravir for patients with mild forms of COVID," Cseke Attila said at the end of the government meeting.
He explained that this medicine has a temporary authorization from India and is not on the list of subsidized medicines in Romania.
"Therefore, it cannot be released free of charge in the pharmacy system. Also, this medicine is introduced in Romania under a special needs authorization, so it does not have a marketing license requested by the manufacturer. (...) Practically, when the patient turns up at the hospital facility, the infectious diseases doctor has two possibilities: he assesses whether the patient has to stay in hospital and receive specific inpatient treatment, as required by their condition, or, if it's a mild case - because this medicine can only be used for mild forms of COVID - and he considers that the treatment can continue out of hospital, he can prescribe this medicine that can be then provided by the hospital's pharmacy for outpatient treatment, which means relieving to a certain extent the hospital system," said Cseke Attila.
