Fujifilm Holdings announced on Tuesday the beginning of the clinical trials to test the effectiveness of Avigan antiviral drugs to treat patients with the novel coronavirus after China has reported promising results.
Avigan or its generic name Favipiravir could play a role in shortening an infected patient's recovery time, as suggested by the results of clinical trials in China. The country's ministry of science and technology said last month that they already finished and completed clinical trials of the drug. This anti-flu drug will be given to 100 patients in Japan until the end of June, according to Fujifilm's spokesman on Wednesday.
Furthermore, the Avigan will be administered for a maximum of 14 days to patients infected with COVID-19 between ages 20 to 74 with mild pneumonia. When the data is collected, it will be analyzed by the experts and file for approval after that. Pregnant patients are excluded because of the drug's side effects.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Saturday that the government will begin the necessary process to formally approve Avigan as a treatment to combat the novel coronavirus giving the go signal to start the phase three trial.
Also Read: Japan Confirms First Case of COVID-19 Reinfection
Clinical Trials in China
Manufactured by Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical for treating influenza viruses, the drug was administered to patients in Shenzhen who have tested positive for COVID-19. Four days later, these patients got a negative test result.
In the same trial, the patients taking Favipiravir reported improvement in their lung conditions by 90% as shown in X-rays, compared to the 62% who were not taking the drug. According to Pharmaceutical Technology, the drug seemed to shorten the duration of a patient's fever from an average of 4.2 days to 2.5 days in the Wuhan trial.
How It Works
The drug is specifically made to target the RNA, the genetic material of the viruses. Avigan cripples the enzyme called RNA polymerase which builds RNA to stop it from replicating. If the enzyme is not intact, the virus loses its ability to replicate its genetic material efficiently once inside a host cell according to an article in a 2017 journal.
However, it doesn't seem to work that well with older patients when they administer it to people ages 70 to 80 years old because the virus has already multiplied, Japanese health Ministry told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
Other Drugs Developed to Treat COVID-19
As of today, there is no drug yet approved or known to treat the COVID-19. But scientists are testing other antiviral drugs that are developed to treat other illnesses if these drugs can also treat coronavirus.
In an article by Science Times, it was mentioned that the United States has already started human testing of the drug remdisivir which was developed to treat Ebola but has shown to be effective in treating coronavirus among monkeys.
Furthermore, the drug that used to cure the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) is currently being tested in China and the US, according to NBC News. Clinical trials have also started to test an experimental coronavirus vaccine in humans.
Also Read: US to Start Human Testing of Antiviral Drug to Cure Novel Coronavirus
