Favipiravir
India's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has received approval from Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for clinical trials of two drugs - favipiravir, and phytopharmaceutical, to combat coronavirus.
Several drugs are being tried across the world to fight coronavirus. From Israel to Italy, scientists and researchers have been coming up with new theories on what could be the right way to go about treating coronavirus.
What is Favipiravir?
Favipiravir, sold under the brand name Avigan, is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza in Japan and China. It is also being studied to treat a number of other viral infections. Like the experimental antiviral drugs (T-1105 and T-1106), it is a pyrazine carboxamide derivative.
It is being developed and manufactured by Toyama Chemical (Fujifilm group) and was approved for medical use in Japan in 2014. In 2016, Fujifilm licensend API for it to Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co. of China. It became a generic drug in 2019.
In February 2020, Favipiravir was being studied in China for experimental treatment of the emergent COVID-19. A study on 80 people in comparison to lopinavir/ritonavir found that it reduced viral clearance time, and that 91% of people had improved CT scans with few side effects. The limitation of this study was that it was not randomized double-blinded and placebo-controlled.
The drug has been approved for use in clinical trials of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. In March 2020, Italy approved the drug for experimental use against COVID-19 and has begun conducting trials in three regions most affected by the disease. The Italian Pharmaceutical Agency, however, has reminded the public that the existing evidence in support of this drug is scant and preliminary. There are plans to study it in three hospitals in Massachusetts, USA as of April 20, 2020.
