HOT: Japanese Anti-viral Drug Can Treat COVID-19, Chinese Official States

Chinese Science and Technology Ministry official Zhang Xinmin recently went on record to state that the anti-flu drug, called Favipiravir, of Japna-based group Fujifilm, helped patients contracting Coronavirus recover.

According to a report published in The Guardian, the antiviral drug, named Favipiravir or Avigan, was showing positive outcomes in the clinical trials including 340 infectious patients in two cities Shenzhen and Wuhan where is reportedly home to Coronavirus outbreak.

He said on March 17 that it holds a high safety degree and is obviously effective in the treatment process.

For those who are unversed, the anti-flu drug was originally developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical in China and currently being produced by China’s Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical for inactivating the influenza viruses. As per a report from Pharmaceutical Technology, last month, this drug got approval as a test treatment for COVID-19 infections.

Patients in the city Shenzhen who had confirmed positive for COVID-19 before took the drug and then got a negative test result after four days. That was compared to another negative test around 11 days later for those not using the drug.

In Wuhan, the drug seemed to be able to shorten the duration of the fever from an average of 4.2 days to only 2.5 days.

Zhang Xinmin stated that Favipiravir drug has been showing good signs and quite effective without any side-effect while helping COVID-19 patients recover.

However, Fujifilm, on the other hand, left no comment on the announcement of the Chinese government. Their spokeswoman said that the company only produces Avigan when Japanese government orders with no sales target.

In fact, the firm’s shares grew by 15% after the announcement from China was out on Wednesday.

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