The Interview Editors
The Chinese government has given a Chinese pharmaceutical company approval to mass produce Favipiravir, an antiviral drug that has shown good clinical efficacy against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19.
This will ensure stable supply of the drug as China has completed its clinical research, xinhuanet.com, reported a Chinese saying on Tuesday.
Favipiravir, the influenza drug which was approved for clinical use in Japan in 2014, has shown no obvious adverse reactions in the clinical trial, said Zhang Xinmin, director of the China National Centre for Biotechnology Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology, at a press conference.
More than 80 patients have participated in the clinical trial in The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, including 35 patients taking Favipiravir and 45 patients on a control group.
Results showed that patients receiving Favipiravir treatment turned negative for the virus in a shorter time compared with patients in the control group.
A multi-centred randomised clinical study led by the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University also suggested that the therapeutic effect of Favipiravir is much better than that of the control group.
Favipiravir has been recommended to medical treatment teams and should be included in the diagnosis and treatment plan for COVID-19 as soon as possible, Zhang said.
