The First Chinese Oral Anti-COVID-19 Drug Azvudine Launched

Mechanism of Azvudine against SARS-CoV-2

Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) at the end of 2019, thousands of SARS-CoV-2 mutations have been increasingly observed. The virus epidemic has posed unprecedented challenges to global public health. As of September 6, 2022, over 603 million confirmed cases and about 6.48 million deaths worldwide have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). The development of novel antivirals capable of treating SARS-CoV-2 infections has been a central focus of current research. To cope with the current novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) granted conditional authorization for Azvudine developed by us to be used to treat COVID-19 on July 25, 2022, being the first domestic oral antiviral agent approved in China.