China says Japanese flu drug is 'clearly effective' in treating coronavirus

Chinese medical authorities have brought attention to a drug in Japan that is used for new influenza strains and seems to be effective in fighting coronavirus according to The Guardian.

An official named Zhang Xinmin from China’s science and technology ministry noted that favipiravir showed positive outcomes during clinical trials with 340 patients in Shenzhen and Wuhan. Favipiravir was made by a Fujifilm subsidiary company.

“It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,” Zhang said to reporters on Tuesday.

In a median of four days after they became positive with the virus—patients who received the medicine became negative, compared with an 11 day median for people who did not receive the drug, according to public broadcaster NHK.

X-rays also showed improvements in the lung condition of around 91 percent of patients who were given Favipiravir, as opposed to 62 percent of people who did not use the drug.

In Japan, doctors are using the drug in clinical studies on patients who have mild symptoms of coronavirus.

A source from the Japanese health ministry noted that the drug—also known as Avigan—has not been as effective for people experiencing severe symptoms.

“We’ve given Avigan to 70 to 80 people, but it doesn’t seem to work that well when the virus has already multiplied,” the source said when talking to Mainichi Shimbun.

Favipiravir was supplied by the Japanese government as an emergency measure to treat the Ebola virus outbreak in 2016.

The drug would require government approval before it could be used for coronavirus patients on a large scale because its original use was to treat flu.

When speaking with the Mainichi, a health official noted that the drug could see approval as soon as May. “But if the results of clinical research are delayed, approval could also be delayed.”