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Search for coronavirus cure boosted by go-ahead for Fujifilm’s Avigan
(EXCERPT)
TOKYO — Medical experts are turning to existing treatments for the flu, Ebola and other illnesses to save patients from the spreading pandemic amid a global push to develop a cure for the new coronavirus.
The Chinese government announced Tuesday that the influenza drug favipiravir, developed by a Fujifilm Holdings subsidiary and sold under the name Avigan, is effective against the coronavirus, based on a clinical trial of 200 patients.
Some Japanese doctors have also been treating coronavirus patients with Avigan. Tokyo has stockpiled enough of the drug to treat 2 million patients. “We have been asked by the government to consider increasing production,” Fujifilm said, though logistical hurdles are believed to stand in the way.
Avigan was approved to treat influenza in Japan in March 2014. Fujifilm signed a license agreement with China’s Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical in 2016, and the latter is now gearing up to mass-produce the drug. Beijing is already recommending the drug to health care providers.
Yup. I’ve read a bunch of the NCBI reports.