FDA Approves First U.S. Trial of Japanese Flu Drug For Coronavirus Treatment

Avigan tablets produced by Japan's Fujifilm are displayed. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)

(IBEXNews) - A drug that the Japanese government has claimed could be a possible treatment for coronavirus is going to see its first clinical trial in the U.S., as three Massachusetts hospitals were approved to begin their study by the FDA on Tuesday.

“The drug looks promising,” said Dr. Robert W. Finberg, an infectious disease specialist at UMass Memorial, to the Boston Globe.

Favipiravir, the drug known under the brand name Avigan, has actually been around since a subsidiary of Fujifilm produced it more than a decade ago as a flu treatment. Though its effectiveness for treating COVID-19 has not yet been proven, researchers around the globe have seen promising signs, and the fact that humans have been taking it for years means that its side effects are already well-known.

Along with this relatively small study about to take place in Massachusetts, doctors have also been running trials for the experimental drug remdesivir and other potential treatments. But even though it’s all hands on deck for infectious disease doctors amid this pandemic, they warn that finding a way to save patients from coronavirus is not a short-term endeavour.

“These things do take a little bit of time,” Finberg said. "We will not get an instant answer.”