I copy below a really interesting article about a drug active against coronovirus infection.
Japanese flu drug appears ‘effective’ in
coronavirus treatment in Chinese clinical trials
Based on results of
clinical trials conducted with affected patients in both Wuhan and Shenzhen by
Chinese medical authorities, Japanese-made flu drug favipiravir (also known as
Avigan) has been shown to be effective in both reducing the duration of the
COVID-19 virus in patients and to have improved the lung conditions of those
who received treatment with the drug.
The
trials involved 340 patients in total, and since the drug has already been
developed and approved for use in treating flu, it has a “high degree of
safety,” according to China science and technology ministry official Zhang
Xinmin, who spoke to reporters on Wednesday according to The Guardian.
The tests showed a reduction in the period during which patients tested
positive for the new coronavirus from 11 days down to just four, and showed
improvements in the lung condition of around 91 percent of patients treated
with favipiravir, compared to just 62 percent for those without among the trial
participants.
The
Chinese studies are not the only attempt to test the efficacy of the drug in
COVID-19 treatment – Japanese doctors are bonding their own studies. A Japanese
health ministry source told Japanese newspaper the Manichi Shimbun that the
drug so far has been given to around 70 to 80 people, but that early results
suggest it isn’t effective in treating those with more severe symptoms where
the virus has already multiplied to a much greater extent.
Still,
a treatment that is effective in reducing the duration of the presence of the
virus even in milder cases, and in lessening the impacts in moderate
symptomatic patients, would be a huge benefit to the ongoing fight against the
coronavirus. Any approvals for use of favipiravir would, of course, require further
clinical testing, followed by approval of widespread use by each country’s
relevant medical treatment regulating body.
Other
drug treatments have been tested for COVID-19 treatment, and are in the process
of development, but no antiviral has yet been approved or created specifically
for dealing with the new coronavirus. Other drugs that have shown early
promising signs include remadesivir, a compound developed by Gilead Sciences
that has shown some
promise as a general antiviral.
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