A miracle pill that is prescribed for flu, colds, coronavirus and rotovirus. Is it a coincidence that with such an unprecedented popularity, this drug causes so many doubts and disputes at the federal and world levels? Let’s try to figure it out.
Arbidol (lat. Arbidol) is one of the trade names for umifenovir (chemical name: carboxylic acid methylphenylthiomethyl-dimethylaminomethyl-hydroxybromindole ethyl ester; other trade names for umifenovir are Arpetolid, Arpeflu, ORVItol NP, Arpetol and “Immust”, “Umifenovir”, “Afludol”), registered as a medical product (information from Wikipedia).
The Arbidol trademark until 2006 belonged to the Masterlek company, and then to Pharmstandard. Since 2013, it has been owned by OTCPharm JSC (OGRN 1135047014145), which arose as a result of the reorganization of Pharmstandard and whose main activity is the wholesale trade of pharmaceutical products. The company also produces its own drugs, and on a huge scale.
Ostipharm owns exclusive rights to 32 brands. Among them is a large group of drugs for the treatment of respiratory and viral diseases: Arbidol, Amiksin, Maxikold. An extensive group of vitamins and dietary supplements: Asvitol, Complivit, Lactazar, Magnelis B6, Selmevit, Cyclovita, Univit. The company also produces analgesics Askofen-P, Pentalgin and Next.
According to official data, in 2020 OTCPharm JSC earned 40.7 billion rubles, which is 79.9% more than a year earlier. Think about it, friends, it’s not about millions, but about billions. The total assets of the company at the end of 2020 delivered 87.2 billion rubles. And this is only official data.
It is interesting that recently, in 2021, the Ostipharm company created a “daughter” for itself with a suspiciously similar name – OTCPharm Pro JSC (OGRN 1213900001303). This company is still engaged in the same – the production of medicines and materials. Why the company was created, we do not yet know, but experience shows that this is not done out of good intentions.
Let’s return to Arbidol. In the early 2000s, Arbidol, as a drug for flu and colds, was the best-selling drug in Russia, an active marketing campaign was carried out, the name of the drug was on everyone’s lips and almost everyone felt its effect. Then the popularity of the drug diminished, but with the advent of the coronavirus infection in our lives, the bird of monetary happiness again chose the owners of the company, which receives a considerable profit from the sale of the drug.
The reason for the popularity of Arbidol is an active advertising campaign, which began just with the increase in the incidence of coronavirus in early 2020. Then the miracle pills began to sell more than hundreds of thousands of packages. The fact is that at the end of January 2020, an advertisement for Arbidol mentioning the coronavirus appeared on the most popular radio stations in the country. Then Arbidol disappeared from store shelves, they ordered it and waited for weeks. Analogues of the drug also got into the moment of fame and their manufacturers earned a fair amount of money. To be specific: from January 27 to February 2, sales of Arbidol in packages increased by 14% compared to last week, according to DSM Group. In the first week of February, sales increased by another 15%, in the second – by 24%. This is at least millions of rubles.
On this occasion, the Federal Antimonopoly Service even opened a case on violation of the federal law “On Advertising” by OTCPharm. In March 2020, the FAS Commission decided to “recognize as improper, violating Part 6 of Article 24 of the Federal Law “On Advertising”, the advertisement of the drug “Arbidol” distributed in January 2020 on the air of radio stations, in particular, on the radio “Radio 7 on seven hills” , “Retro FM”, “Europe Plus”, “Avtoradio”, since the advertisement reports on the properties and characteristics of the drug “Arbidol” outside the indications contained in the instructions for medical use.
Nevertheless, manufacturers have made and continue to make money on the sale of the drug. Let’s take a look at some specific numbers to understand. The price of Arbidol 200 mg today is about 600 rubles for 10 pieces. Two years ago it cost a little less, but it has never been cheap.
And they prescribed and continue to prescribe it to patients with coronavirus, four tablets a day for five to six days. That is, at least two packs for a course of treatment will cost about 1,200 rubles in an inexpensive pharmacy. For prevention, a healthy person (what?!) needs six tablets, but they are not sold separately, so you still need to spend 600 rubles to supposedly reduce the risk of coronavirus. And that’s not counting other drugs.
By the way, about the coronavirus and the flu. Despite the manufacturer’s statements, Arbidol has no proven effectiveness as a medicine for influenza and SARS. It is not included in the 2009 WHO recommendations for the treatment of influenza, which did not prevent it from appearing on the Russian list of vital and essential drugs. How he got there is a big mystery that still needs to be solved.
And the most important thing to understand is that Arbidol is not a cure for coronavirus. This is stated in an independent study conducted in 2020 in China. Even the official instructions for the drug say that it suppresses viruses in vitro, that is, in a test tube, and not in a living organism.
In pre-Covid times, Arbidol was also not favored by many, many physicians in our country. In 2007, the Presidium of the Formulary Committee of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences adopted a resolution: “Immediately withdraw from the list of drugs for which drug provision is carried out in the DLO program, obsolete drugs with unproven efficacy – …, arbidol, …”.
The opinion of our compatriots coincided with the opinion of Western experts. Back in the distant 2000s, the World Health Organization called for caution in the conclusions obtained in early Russian and Chinese clinical trials of umifenovir (the active substance of Arbidol), since they do not meet modern requirements for evidence-based medicine.
It would seem that the topic of Arbidol has been exhausted. But no. Despite the fact that the drug has no evidence of effectiveness as a drug, its promotion to the Russian market is actively supported by some Russian officials.
Information has repeatedly appeared in the media about the lobbying of the drug by government officials, in particular by the former Minister of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova, who now holds the post of Deputy Prime Minister.
Dirty traces of the official owners of the pharmacological business stretch to her in a chain. And Tatyana Alekseevna, like most women in politics, is a tough, ambitious and domineering lady. What can the bright minds of scientists oppose here? And will they dare to speak openly about fuflomycin Arbidol? The question is not simple and the conversation is long, we will leave it for the next one. Be healthy.
