Japan will begin sending the anti-flu drug Avigan for free to 38 countries as early as this week for treating patients with the novel coronavirus, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced on Tuesday.
The antiviral drug, which is also known as favipiravir, has emerged as a potential drug to treat patients infected with the coronavirus in Japan and China. It has been developed by Japanese company Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Company, a unit of Fujifilm Holdings.
Five countries in the Middle East to receive Avigan this week
Motegi said among the 38 countries are 25 in Europe, mostly from Eastern Europe, six in Asia including the Philippines and Malaysia, five in the Middle East such as Kuwait, and two from other regions.
Over 70 countries, including the 38, have made requests for Avigan from Japan, which has decided to offer a $1 million grant to the United Nations Office for Project Services to buy and distribute the drug to countries that need it.
“I’ve heard that (the U.N. agency) is arranging to start transporting the drug around the holidays after procedures have been completed,” Motegi told at a press conference, referring to the last five days of the Golden Week holidays from Saturday through next Wednesday
Motegi said Japan will be provided with data obtained from clinical tests on coronavirus patients that will be conducted in the recipient countries using the drug.
Japan has also been undertaking clinical tests, which will last through June, following a study in China that suggested the drug is effective in treating patients, Kyodo News reported.
“It is vital that the international community cooperate in swiftly developing effective therapeutic drugs,” Motegi said, referring to such drugs as “critically important” in the short run, as with a coronavirus vaccine development in the long run.
The Japanese government has requested Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co., to boost production of Avigan. But as the drug is also feared to cause birth defects, it cannot be prescribed to expectant mothers or those who may become pregnant.
As part of Japan’s latest emergency package to alleviate the economic fallout from the pandemic adopted earlier this month, 13.9 billion yen ($130 million) had been allocated to boost the stockpile of Avigan to three times the current amount for use in treating 2 million patients.
According to a scientific study in China concluded in March that Avigan had been effective for patients, especially those with mild symptoms. Beijing since then has said it would officially adopt the drug as part of its treatment guidelines for coronavirus patients.
