Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 12) — A leading Russian pharmaceutical company is ready to donate medicine for the treatment of the coronavirus disease or COVID-19 in the Philippines, Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev said Wednesday.

The envoy said that Russian company Polysan is offering free medicine they developed called "Cycloferon" which reportedly has been effective in curing the symptoms of those infected with the viral illness in Russia and China.

Cycloferon is an over-the-counter medicine used to treat patients with major viral and bacterial infections, such as influenza, acute respiratory viral infections, and tuberculosis. Khovaev called the drug "highly-effective" and said that in China, its effects are " very, very encouraging, and very positive."

"It's offered as donation just to extend the hand of help to our Filipino partners so now this offer is under consideration in Manila,” he said, adding that Russia has been successful in containing and treating its COVID-19 patients.

As of March 12, there are 28 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Russia.

"To date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the new coronavirus," the World Health Organization said in its website."However, those infected with the virus should receive appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms, and those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care."

It said some specific treatments are under investigation, and will be tested through clinical trials.

The United Nations agency on Thursday characterized the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. It also earlier said it will take a minimum of 18 months to develop a vaccine for the virus.

There are now more than 126,000 infected people and over 4,600 deaths worldwide due to COVID-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University's global tracker.