Japanese flu drug “Clearly Effective “in treating COVID-19
On Wednesday, Japanese media reported that a certain drug called "Favirpiravir" developed by a subsidiary of Fujifilm have appeared to be effective in the treatment of Coronavirus patients.
An official at China’s science and technology ministry: Zhang Xinmin confirmed that Favipiravir had produced desirable outcomes in clinical trials involving 340 patients. The trials were held in Wuhan and Shenzhen.
“It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,” Zhang told newsmen on Tuesday.
Patients who were given the medicine in Shenzhen turned negative for the virus after a median of four days after becoming positive, compared with a median of 11 days for those who were not treated with the drug, public broadcaster NHK said. According to public broadcasters NHK,It took about four days on average for the patients who had earlier tested positive to test negative after treated with the drug while it took 11 days for patients not treated with the drugs to test positive.
Collectively, X-rays established progresses in lung condition in about 91% of the patients who were treated with Favipiravir, compared to 62% or those without the drug.
However, Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, which developed the drug has declined to comment on the claims.
There was a 14.7% surge in the shares of the firm following Zhang’s comments on the drug.
The same limitations had been identified in studies involving coronavirus patients using a combination of the HIV antiretrovirals lopinavir and ritonavir, the source added.
In 2016, the Japanese government provided Favipiravir as an emergency relief to counter the Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea.
Favipiravir would need government approval for full-scale use on Covid-19 patients, since it was originally intended to treat flu.
A health official told the Mainichi the drug could be approved as early as May. “But if the results of clinical research are delayed, approval could also be delayed.”
Alternatively, United State Of America’s president , Donald Trump has reportedly approved chloroquine for use as a treatment against the ravaging COVID-19.
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