On March 28 and 30, “Sputnik Georgia” published two articles on its Georgian and Russian-language websites, claiming that a new drug against the coronavirus has been created in Russia. On March 28, Sputnik first published an article in the Georgian language headlined “Russian scientists have introduced a drug for the coronavirus treatment,” while later, on March 30, the information of the same content was published in Russian language headlined “Three drugs have been developed in Russia to combat the COVID-19” (В России разработали три лекарства для борьбы с COVID-19). In total, both articles name four different drugs – Mefloquine, Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine/Chloroquine and Fortepren.
The headline of Georgian-language article published on March 28 does not correspond to the main text and has a manipulative content. In the current context, the headline “Russian scientists have introduced a drug against the coronavirus” gives impression to the reader, as if a new medicine has been created in Russia, although the text itself provides other information. Following the headline, the Georgian-language article reads, “Russian doctors have developed a scheme for coronavirus treatment taking into account Chinese and French experience”. In fact, the article is about the development of a treatment scheme, rather than of a drug, based on other countries.
Named drugs have been developed not in Russia, but in other countries, before the discovery of the COVID-19, and has been previously used to treat other diseases.
In a conversation with “Myth Detector”, Doctor Archil Marshania stated that named medicines are neither created in Russia, nor are new.
Archil Marshania: “Remdesivir and Chloroquine are not new drugs. Chloroquine has being used to treat malaria, while Remdesivir was created against Ebola and now is being tested against the novel coronavirus on a trial basis.”
- Mefloquine was created in the framework of US Army Research Program in the 1980s to combat malaria. The drug was first introduced in 1985 and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1989.
- Remdesivir was created in 2015 by the American company Gilead Sciences against the Ebola virus disease.
- Hydroxychloroquine was approved in the USA in 1955, while Chloroquine was discovered by Hans Andersag in 1934. These drugs are being used to treat malaria.
- Fortepren is a comparably new drug and is being used to treat chronic herpes.
The Center for Disease Con trol and Prevention (CDC), as early as on March 21, released information about the therapeutic options for clinics treating COVID-19 patients, noting that the tests regarding the usage of Remdesivir, Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine have been performed in the USA and hundreds of other clinics around the world. On March 28, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially issued an authorization regarding the usage of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine in certain COVID-19 patients.
Marshania notes that arbitrary use of named drugs is categorically unacceptable. According to the doctor, these are strong drugs currently being experimentally used to treat the novel coronavirus and have many side effects. He states that any medicine should be prescribed only based on a doctor’s official recommendation, after which the treatment will be monitored.
Myth Detector Lab
