Form Of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Research Articles

An Evaluation of Wet Granulation Process Selection for API Prone to Polymorphic Form Conversion in the Presence of Moisture and Heat.

Wet granulation (WG) is one of the most versatile processes to improve blend properties for processing. However, due to its need for moisture and heat, it is often considered not amenable to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) prone to forming hydrates. Despite this claim, little literature exists evaluating the extent to which polymorphic form conversions occur for such API when processed with WG. This work sets out to explore two common WG methods, high-shear (HSG) and fluid-bed (FBG), and two drying processes, tray-drying (TD) and fluid-bed drying (FBD), and evaluate the risk they pose to hydrate form conversion. The progression of anhydrous to hydrate form conversion of two model compounds with vastly different solubilities, fexofenadine hydrochloride and carbamazepine, was monitored throughout the various processes using powder X-ray diffraction. The resultant granules were characterized using thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, BET adsorption, and sieve analysis. FBG and FBD processing resulted in the preservation of the original form of both APIs, while HSG+TD resulted in the complete conversion of the API. The FBD of fexofenadine and carbamazepine granules prepared with HSG resulted in partial and complete re-conversion back to the original anhydrous forms, respectively. The drying process is a critical factor in anhydrous form conservation. FBG and FBD yielded better preservation of the initial anhydrous forms. HSG could be an acceptable granulation method for API susceptible to hydrate formation if the API solubility is low. Selecting an FBG+FBD process minimizes API hydrate formation and preserves the original anhydrous form.

Stability of Rapidly Crystallizing Sulfonamides Glasses by Fast Scanning Calorimetry: Crystallization Kinetics and Glass-Forming Ability

Production and evaluation of the kinetic stability of the amorphous forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients are among the current challenges of modern pharmaceutical science. In the present work, amorphous forms of several sulfonamides were produced for the first time using Fast Scanning calorimetry. The parameters, characterizing the glass-forming ability of the compounds, i.e. the critical cooling rate of the melt and the kinetic fragility, were determined. The cold crystallization kinetics was studied using both isothermal and non-isothermal approaches. The results of the present study will contribute to the development of approaches for producing amorphous forms of rapidly crystallizing active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Density Functional Theory and Density Functional Tight Binding Studies of Thiamine Hydrochloride Hydrates.

Thiamine hydrochloride (THCL), also known as vitamin B1, is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), present on the list of essential medicines developed by the WHO, which proves its importance for public health. THCL is highly hygroscopic and can occur in the form of hydrates with varying degrees of hydration, depending on the air humidity. Although experimental characterization of the THCL hydrates has been described in the literature, the questions raised in previously published works suggest that additional research and in-depth analysis of THCL dehydration behavior are still needed. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to characterize, by means of quantum chemical calculations, the behavior of thiamine hydrates and explain the previously obtained results, including changes in the NMR spectra, at the molecular level. To achieve this goal, a series of DFT (CASTEP) and DFTB (DFTB+) calculations under periodic boundary conditions have been performed, including molecular dynamics simulations and GIPAW NMR calculations. The obtained results explain the differences in the relative stability of the studied forms and changes in the spectra observed for the samples of various degrees of hydration. This work highlights the application of periodic DFT calculations in the analysis of various solid forms of APIs.

Crystal Modifications of a Cyclic Guanosine Phosphorothioate Analogue, a Drug Candidate for Retinal Neurodegenerations.

In contribution to the pharmaceutical development of cyclic guanosine monophosphorothioate analogue cGMPSA as a potential active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for the treatment of inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs), its neutral form (cGMPSA-H) and salts of sodium (-Na), calcium (-Ca), ammonium (-NH4 ), triethylammonium (-TEA), tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (-Tris), benethamine (-Bnet), and benzathine (-BZ) were prepared. Their solid-state properties were studied with differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, hot-stage microscopy, and dynamic vapor sorption, and their solubilities were measured in deionized H2 O as well as aqueous HCl and NaOH buffers. A total of 21 crystal modifications of cGMPSA were found and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction. Despite their crystalline character, no API forms featured any observable melting points during thermal analyses and instead underwent exothermic decomposition at ≥163 °C. Both the vapor sorption behavior and solubility were found to differ significantly across the API forms. cGMPSA-BZ featured the lowest aqueous solubility and hygroscopicity, with 50 μg/mL and 5 % mass gain at maximum relative humidity. The synthesis and crystallization of some crystal modifications were upscaled to >10 g. Single crystal X-ray diffraction was performed which resulted in the first crystal structure determination and absolute configuration of a cyclic guanosine monophosphorothioate, confirming the RP - conformation at the phosphorus atom.

RP-HPLC Method Development, Validation Including Stability Indicating and Forced Degradation Studies for the Estimation of Pemetrexed in API and Pharmaceutical Dosage Form

Stability indicating analytical RP-HPLC (Reverse Phase- High performance Liquid Chromatography) method was developed for the analysis of the drug in the presence of its degradation products and subsequent validation of Pemetrexed that was conducted in API and pharmaceutical dosage form. Pemetrexed was subjected to different stress conditions as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines, stress conditions applied were including the effect of acid, base, oxidative, hydrolysis, thermal and photolytic degradation conditions. Chromatographic separation of API (Active Pharmaceutical ingredient) was achieved on Water’s HPLC instrument and ODS C18, 250x4.6 mm, 5µm particle size column with gradient elution of 0.1% ortho phosphoric acid buffer: Acetonitrile 80:20 ratio was taken as the eluent (mobile phase). The buffer pH was maintained at 3, the flow rate was 1.0 ml/min and wavelength were detected at 225 nm. The Retention time (RT) of Pemetrexed was Found at 2.9 minutes, column temperature was kept ambient and the runtime was 6 min. System suitability parameters like theoretical plates, tailing factor, and Asymmetry values were showed at 3391, 1.41, and 1.101 respectively. The percentage drug purity was found to be 99.99%. Validation of the method was proved that linear relationship over the range of 25-150 µg/mL, with linear regression curve (correlation coefficient) r2 value was noticed at 0.999 and LOD (limit of detection), LOQ (limit of quantification) values was established at 0.33µg/mL, 0.99µg/mL respectively. Recovery studies carried out at the concentrations of 50%, 100% and 150% with percentage recovery values of 100.06, 99.8 and 99.87 respectively. The precision of intraday was 0.64% and inter-day was 0.95%. Robustness of flow rate and mobile phase was changed even though the method was Robust. Forced degradation studies were also conducted to check the stability and suitability of this method to resolve the degradation products. Method validation was proved to be accurate, precise, linear, repeatable and robust. Thus, the accepted method can be proceeded for the estimation of Pemetrexed in pharmaceutical dosage form in a daily basis, due to their simplicity, suitability, accuracy, robustness and reproducibility.

Development of Edaravone Ionic Liquids and Their Application for the Treatment of Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury.

Preparation of the ionic liquid (IL) form of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), termed API-IL, has attracted attention because it can improve upon certain disadvantages of APIs, such as poor water solubility and low stability. Edaravone (3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one) is a clinically approved cerebroprotective agent against ischemic stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, while new formulations that enable improvement of its physicochemical properties and biodistribution are desired. Herein, we report a newly developed API-IL of edaravone (edaravone-IL), in which edaravone is used as an anionic molecule. We investigated the physicochemical properties of edaravone-IL and its therapeutic effect against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, a secondary injury after an ischemic stroke. Among the cationic molecules used for edaravone-IL preparation, the IL prepared with tetrabutylphosphonium cation existed as a liquid at room temperature, and significantly increased the water solubility of edaravone without decreasing its antioxidative activity. Importantly, edaravone-IL formed negatively charged nanoparticles upon suspension in water. Intravenous administration of edaravone-IL showed significantly higher blood circulation time and lower distribution in the kidney compared with edaravone solution. Moreover, edaravone-IL significantly suppressed brain cell damage and motor functional deficits in model rats of cerebral I/R injury and showed comparable cerebroprotective effect to edaravone. Taken together, these results suggest that edaravone-IL could be a new form of edaravone with superior physicochemical properties and could be useful for the treatment of cerebral I/R injury.

Combining Isolation-Free and Co-Processing Manufacturing Approaches to Access Room Temperature Ionic Liquid Forms of APIs

The addition of non-active components at the point of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) isolation by means of co-processing is an attractive approach for improving the material properties of APIs. Simultaneously, there is increased interest in the pharmaceutical industry in continuous manufacturing processes. These often consist of liquid feeds which maintain materials in solution and mean that solids handling is avoided until the final step. Such techniques enable new forms of APIs to be used in final dosage forms which have been overlooked due to unfavourable material properties. API-based ionic liquids (API-ILs) are an example of a class of compounds that exhibit exceptional solubility and stability qualities at the cost of their physical characteristics. API-ILs could benefit from isolation-free manufacturing in combination with co-processing approaches to circumvent handling issues and make them viable routes to formulating poorly soluble APIs. However, API-ILs are most commonly synthesised via a batch reaction that produces an insoluble solid by-product. To avoid this, an ion exchange resin protocol was developed to enable the API-IL to be synthesised and purified in a single step, and also produce it in a liquid effluent that can be integrated with other unit operations. Confined agitated bed crystallisation and spray drying are examples of processes that have been adapted to produce or consume liquid feeds and were combined with the ion exchange process to incorporate the API-IL synthesis into isolation-free frameworks and continuous manufacturing streams. This combination of isolation-free and co-processing techniques paves the way towards end-to-end continuous manufacturing of API-IL drug products.

Rapid Quantification of Pharmaceuticals via 1H Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy.

The physicochemical properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can depend on their solid-state forms. Therefore, characterization of API forms is crucial for upholding the performance of pharmaceutical products. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique for API quantification due to its selectivity. However, quantitative SSNMR experiments can be time consuming, sometimes requiring days to perform. Sensitivity can be considerably improved using 1H SSNMR spectroscopy. Nonetheless, quantification via 1H can be a challenging task due to low spectral resolution. Here, we offer a novel 1H SSNMR method for rapid API quantification, termed CRAMPS-MAR. The technique is based on combined rotation and multiple-pulse spectroscopy (CRAMPS) and mixture analysis using references (MAR). CRAMPS-MAR can provide high 1H spectral resolution with standard equipment, and data analysis can be accomplished with ease, even for structurally complex APIs. Using several API species as model systems, we show that CRAMPS-MAR can provide a lower quantitation limit than standard approaches such as fast MAS with peak integration. Furthermore, CRAMPS-MAR was found to be robust for cases that are inapproachable by conventional ultra-fast (i.e., 100 kHz) MAS methods even when state-of-the-art SSNMR equipment was employed. Our results demonstrate CRAMPS-MAR as an alternative quantification technique that can generate new opportunities for analytical research.

Controlling the Polymorphism of Indomethacin with Poloxamer 407 in a Gas Antisolvent Crystallization Process.

The polymorphic control of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is a major challenge in the manufacture of medicines. Crystallization methods that use supercritical carbon dioxide as an antisolvent can create unique solid forms of APIs, with a particular tendency to generate metastable polymorphic forms. In this work, the effects of processing conditions within a gas antisolvent (GAS) crystallization method, such as pressure, stirring rate, and temperature, as well as the type of solvent used and the presence of an additive, on the polymorphism of indomethacin were studied. Consistent formation of the X-ray powder diffraction-pure α polymorphic form of indomethacin by GAS was only achieved when a polymer, poloxamer 407, was used as an additive. Using the GAS method in combination with poloxamer 407 as a molecular additive enabled full control over the polymorphic form of indomethacin, regardless of the processing conditions employed, such as pressure, temperature, stirring rate, and type of solvent. A detailed molecular modeling study provided insight into the role of poloxamer 407 in the polymorphic outcome of indomethacin and concluded that it favored the formation of the α polymorph.

Development and Validation of a Method for Simultaneous Estimation of Bupropion and Dextromethorphan Using Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Form

Aims: New validated method for the simultaneous estimation of Bupropion and Dextromethorphan using HPLC.
 Place and Duration of Study: Department of Chemistry, RVR & JC College of Engineering, Chowdavaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, between July 2022 and August 2022.
 Methodology: Using Inertsil ODS 250 x 4.6 mm, 5 µm column, acetonitrile and 0.1 percent formic acid (30:70 v/v) as a mobile phase, the proposed method successfully achieved effective chromatographic separation with a flow rate of 1 mL/min and a wave length of 240 nm. The Bupropion and Dextromethorphan peaks were resolved within 5 minutes of elution time, with the Bupropion peak eluting at 2.054 minutes and the Dextromethorphan peak eluting at 3.940 minutes.
 Results: The proposed method displays excellent linearity in the concentration ranges of 52.5-315 µg/mL for Bupropion and 22.5-135 µg/mL for Dextromethorphan. The RSD of robustness levels has a maximum of just 2 percent.
 Conclusion: The accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of the method were all found to be in line with ICH guidelines, when the procedure was developed and tested.

High ‐ throughput spectrofluorimetric approach for one-step, sensitive, and green assays of alfuzosin hydrochloride using a 96-well microplate reader: Application to tablet formulations and human urine

In the current study, a novel fluorescence-based microplate methodology was introduced for the one-step determination of alfuzosin hydrochloride, with an assessment of the eco-friendliness of the two developed methods. The development of rapid analytical methods with high sensitivity, selectivity, and low cost is a growing trend. In this context, we propose two simple and rapid spectrofluorimetric methods for the quantitative analysis of alfuzosin in the form of active pharmaceutical ingredient, tablets, and urine samples. The first method relies on a direct assay of the native fluorescence of alfuzosin in water, whereas the second method exploits the quenching effect of alfuzosin on calcein dye for its assay at emission wavelengths of 390 and 520 nm, respectively. The obtained results showed high sensitivity with good linearity (> 0.999) over the concentration ranges of 0.75–12.5 and 10–1200 ng/mL, respectively. The eco-friendly features of the proposed methods were proven by greenness evaluation studies employing the National Environmental Methods Index, analytical Eco-scale score, and Green Analytical Procedure Index as three assessment tools. It was concluded that both methods are efficient analytical tools from a green perspective and are promptly applicable for the alfuzosin assay, while the first method demonstrated 10-fold higher sensitivity. In addition, ever-increasing miniaturization as handling large numbers of micro-volume samples simultaneously and reagents in the proposed methods have enabled them to be safer alternatives for rapid routine analysis in quality control units.

Direct detection of the crystal form of an active pharmaceutical ingredient in tablets by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy

Different crystal forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) may display variations in physicochemical properties. During the drug development process, the definitive purpose is to maintain homogeneous quality in a single crystalline form. Hence, it is important to evaluate and understand the properties of each crystal form of APIs in pharmaceutics. In this study, forms 0, Ⅰ, Ⅱ, III of bromhexine hydrochloride, and form S of bromhexine were characterized by the commonly used methods X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis, and single crystal structure X-ray diffraction. Additionally, X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS), a seldom used method in the pharmaceutics discipline was also applied to explore the chemical environment of bromine atoms in forms 0, Ⅰ, Ⅱ and S as well as chloride ions in forms 0 to Ⅱ. The XAFS spectra of each form were different from each of the other forms which indicated the chemical environment around target elements in the crystal polymorphs were distinct. Then, we measured the commercial bromhexine hydrochloride tablets with XAFS measurement and found that XAFS could distinguish the crystal form in the tablets. Hence, we demonstrated that XAFS measurements would be applicable as one of the methods for the direct detection of APIs in the tablets.

A Study of Stability Indicating Development and Validation of a Method for Simultaneous Estimation of Brigatinib and Alectinib Using Reverse Phase Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Form

Aims: New validated method for the simultaneous estimation of Brigatinib and Alectinib using UPLC and study of its degradation.
 Place and Duration of Study: Department of Chemistry, RVR & JC College of Engineering, Chowdavaram, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, between March 2021 and April 2021.
 Methodology: Using Luna C18 100 x 2.6 mm, 1.6 µm column, acetonitrile, and 0.1 percent Tri ethyl amine (TEA) (80:20 v/v) as a mobile phase, the proposed method successfully achieved effective chromatographic separation with a flow rate of 1 mL/min and a wave length of 260 nm. The Braginib and Alectinib peaks were resolved within 5 minutes of elution time, with the Brigatinib peak eluting at 3.208 minutes and the Alectinib peak eluting at 1.757 minutes.
 Results: The proposed method displays excellent linearity in the concentration ranges of 1.0 µg/ml to 15 µg/ml for Brigatinib and 5.0 µg/ml to 75 µg/ml for Alectinib. The RSD of robustness levels has a maximum of just 2 percent.
 Conclusion: The accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of the method were all found to be in line with ICH guidelines, when the procedure was developed and tested.

How Many Cocrystals Are We Missing? Assessing Two Crystal Engineering Approaches to Pharmaceutical Cocrystal Screening

Drug development may include extensive screening for crystalline forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Crystal engineering aims to apply supramolecular knowledge to simplify such a task. The failure of such a strategy may result in overlooking potentially interesting compounds. Here, the advantages of such a knowledge-based approach is compared to a systematic crystallization screening for pharmaceutical cocrystals. This work indicates that a screening simply based on known synthons and their relative frequency as reported in the database is as effective as a random screening exercise, potentially missing 25% of the successful cocrystallization. Readily available computational methods perform better, enabling the identification of all of the observed cocrystals with a reduction of 24% of the experimental attempts.

SIMPLE QUANTIFIED AND VALIDATED STABILITY INDICATING STRESS DEGRADATION STUDIES OF ORAL ANTI-DIABETIC AGENT DAPAGLIFLOZIN BY RP-HPLC METHOD

Objective: This method is focused on developing a precisely simplified and more accurate Reverse Phase–High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for the determination of Dapagliflozin in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage form as per guidelines of International Council for Harmonization (ICH). Methods: Evaluation and validation carried out using the RP-HPLC ZORBAX (C18) column (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 μm particle size) with a mobile phase consisting of Phosphate Buffer: Acetonitrile: Methanol in a ratio of 55:40:05 (v/v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min with an injection volume of 10 μl. Results: Dapagliflozin was eluted at 2.12±0.05 min and detected at 225 nm. The regression equation y = 55762 x-29679 found to be linear with correlation coefficient r2 value of 0.9997. The developed RP-HPLC method was conveniently validated as per the ICH guidelines and found method was robust, sensitive, accurate, selective, specific, precise and linear. Conclusion: The proposed method was found to be accurate, precise, and robust for API and pharmaceutical dosage form as per experimentation analysis. The above developed method was found to be satisfied for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and pharmaceutical formulation of Dapagliflozin to study its degradation products.

Submerged Eutectic-Assisted, Solvent-Free Mechanochemical Formation of a Propranolol Salt and Its Other Multicomponent Solids.

Salt preparation via a solid-state reaction offers a solution to challenges posed by current pharmaceutical research, which include combining development of novel forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients with greener, sustainable synthesis. This work investigated in detail the mechanism of salt formation between propranolol (PRO) and capric acid (CAP) and explored the solid eutectic phases comprising this salt, propranolol caprate (PRC). The salt structure was solved by X-ray diffraction, and the properties in the crystalline and supercooled states were fully characterised using thermal analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). PRC forms via a submerged eutectic phase composed of PRO and CAP, below room temperature, by mechanochemistry without an extra input of energy. Two other solid eutectic phases are composed of PRC and either CAP or PRO, at 0.28 and 0.82 mol fraction of PRO, respectively. BDS indicated that the supercooled PRC has ionic character, whereas the supercooled PRC-PRO eutectic had predominantly non-ionic properties despite comprising the salt. In conclusion, knowledge of the mechanism of formation of multicomponent systems can help in designing more sustainable pharmaceutical processes.

Stability screening of pharmaceutical cocrystals

An efficient protocol for assessing both the chemical and physical stability of cocrystalline forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is proposed. In this protocol, the cocrystalline material is used to prepare two standard formulations, mimicking wet granulations, to make low-dose tablets. After designed stress testing at a range of temperatures and RH conditions, degradant formation is modeled from the data using ASAPprime ® to determine if the tablets have a minimum of a one-year shelf-life (25 °C/60% RH open). When the cocrystals provide a kinetic solubility enhancement over the un-complexed API, a physical assessment of the cocrystal stability is carried out using the same tablets at selected stress conditions. For this assessment, kinetic solubility (where the amount of buffer used to dissolve the tablet is adjusted to completely dissolve the cocrystalline form but leave most of the un-complexed form out of solution) changes are used to indicate whether there is a significant risk for physical instability on long-term storage. This process was exemplified using model cocrystals of APIs.

Deep Eutectic Solvents and Pharmaceuticals

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are eutectic mixtures that present a deviation from the ideal thermodynamic solid–liquid phase behavior, where a significant depression in the melting temperature occurs. If properly designed and chosen, DES may be liquid at room and the human body’s temperatures and display a biocompatible character, thus representing relevant options in the pharmaceutical field. Accordingly, DES have been studied as alternative solvents or in formulations of pharmaceuticals to improve their solubility and stability. Depending on the DES components, these mixtures might exhibit interesting biological activities compatible with several applications. The use of DES as functional agents or as novel liquid forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API-DES) with the goal of improving bioavailability, permeability and therapeutic efficacy of a given API stands as alternative strategies in the pharmaceutical field for drug delivery purposes.

Formation of low melting point binary systems comprising ketoprofen and an amide local anaesthetic

Liquid forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients, ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic mixtures (DEMs), offer several potential benefits in respect to advancing pharmaceutical formulations. The aim of this study was to develop and characterise ILs/DEMs composed of two active molecules: ketoprofen (KET), as the acidic component, and a local anaesthetics (LA), lidocaine (LID), mepivacaine (MEP) or bupivacaine (BUP), which constituted the basic component. A mechanosynthetic approach was successfully applied to obtain LA-KET low melting systems. Composition/temperature phase diagrams were determined by differential scanning calorimetry. The amide LA-KET mixtures showed a eutectic behaviour during heating and formed viscous liquids upon quench cooling. Considering the quench cooled LA-KET mixtures, LA crystallisation was observed only in the LA-rich mixtures. LID, MEP and BUP formed disordered complexes with KET at an approximate 1:2 stoichiometry. Infrared spectroscopy studies revealed that the mixtures were composed mainly of hydrogen bonded acid and base molecules, but small amounts of carboxylate anions were detected. The formation of LA-KET complex not only suppressed the high crystallisation tendency of the LA molecules in the dry state, but also eliminated the crystallisation of KET and LA molecules induced by moisture, as revealed by dynamic vapour sorption studies.

Vírusellenes terápiás lehetőségek COVID–19 fertőzés kezelésére

Összefoglaló. A COVID–19-járvány egyre növekvő számú fertőzött betegének ellátása érdekében rövid időn belül szükség mutatkozott vírusellenes terápiás lehetőségekre. A gyors reagálás szempontját figyelembe véve erre a célra elsősorban más vírusok ellen már kifejlesztett vírusellenes szerek jöhetnek szóba. A magyar betegek ellátásbiztonsága szempontjából különösen fontos a hatóanyagok és gyógyszerkészítmények hazai gyártása. Ezt a cél tűzte ki a favipiravir, egy széles spektrumú antivirális hatóanyag hazai fejlesztése, amely sikeresen befejeződött, a gyógyszerkészítmény klinikai vizsgálata folyamatban van. Summary. Increasing impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare system prompted the identification of potential antiviral therapies. Due to the immediate demand, known drugs were subjected to repositioning attempts. These drugs include agents inhibiting the viral entry into the host cells, drugs potentially blocking the release of the viral RNA from the endosomes, antivirals inhibiting the replication of the viral RNA and finally compounds that might prevent the assembly of the new virion. Since there is less experience with camostat and nafamostat, the entry inhibitors tested in Japan, and due to the ambiguous data collected with the endosome blocking chloroquine and hydroxyl-chloroquine, we focused on the actual antiviral treatment options for COVID-19 infections. In addition to favipiravir and remdesivir that were used early, at the onset of the pandemic, we discuss novel candidates including molnupiravir, a promising antiviral actually investigated in clinical trials. Considering the needs of Hungarian COVID patients and the security of supply as first priority, we selected favipiravir and developed a convenient process for the industry-scale production of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). At the end of this review we summarize the development and clinical investigation of favipiravir, a wide spectrum antiviral drug used for the treatment of mild and moderate COVID patients in Hungary in both ambulant and clinical settings. The Hungarian COVID Task Force set up two consortia, one for the development and the other for the clinical investigations of favipiravir. The objective of the favipiravir development consortium was to develop processes for the production of Favipiravir API and dosage forms. The consortium completed the pilot plant scale industrial production of the API and produced clinical samples for the upcoming trials. The selection and laboratory scale optimization of the synthesis route was performed at the Medicinal Chemistry Research Group of the Research Center for Natural Sciences. The laboratory scale synthesis was scaled up for pilot plant production at EVI plc and Gedeon Richter plc. GMP production was realized at the facilities of Gedeon Richter plc. Finished dosage forms were developed at Meditop Ltd who produced the clinical samples under GMP conditions. The clinical consortium is headed by the Hungarian section of the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN) and organized two trials. One of these trials investigates favipiravir produced in Hungary while the other trial is performed with favipiravir produced in Japan. Both studies were approved by the Hungarian regulatory agency (OGYÉI) and are ongoing.