A Japanese Flu Drug May Be Able to Treat Coronavirus

According to an NHK report, there is a Japanese flu drug that could be effective in treating the deadly coronavirus which is now considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization. (WHO)

NHK has reported that patients treated with the drug called favipiravir, were found to turn negative for COVID-19 after a median of four days, rather than 11 days for those who were not treated with the drug.

Favipiravir was developed by a subsidiary of Fujifilm, in Shenzen.

Zhang Xinmin, director of China’s National Center for Biotechnology Development, said the favipiravir drug had produced positive outcomes during clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzen. According to the report, 340 patients had taken part in the clinical trials.

“It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,” Zhang told reporters.

As of Wednesday, more than 200,000 people worldwide were reported to have contracted the coronavirus, according to
Johns Hopkins University. There have been over 8,000 deaths.