Apr 14, 2020.
On September 9, Fujifilm announced that it would start a U.S. Phase II trial of its anti-influenza drug Avigan (generic name: favipiravir) in patients with a new type of coronavirus infection. The trial is scheduled to be conducted at three facilities – Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Massachusetts State University Medical School – and is expected to be completed at the end of June.
Avigan is a drug approved as an anti-influenza virus drug in Japan and unapproved in the US. It is characterized by a selective inhibition of viral RNA polymerase to prevent growth, and is expected to be effective against the new coronavirus, which is the same type of RNA virus as the influenza virus. The U.S. Phase II trial will evaluate the efficacy and safety of the drug in 50 patients with new coronavirus infections compared to standard therapy with Avigan.
