Fujifilm has issued a press release stating that their antiviral drug, Avigan, is to enter Phase II clinical trials in the USA. As previously reported, Avigan caused Fujifilm’s shares to increase by 8.8% in February after Japanese health authorities announced their plans to recommend it for COVID-19 treatment. Their shares jumped 15% after successful trials of the drug in China.

Avigan, also available in other parts of the world under the name “Favipiravir”,  has been approved in Japan as an influenza antiviral drug, but it’s also been effective in treating other viruses such as ebola. Now it seems to be somewhat effective against COVID-19, the illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

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Almost a month ago, Fujifilm’s shares rose 8.8% after it was announced that Japan planned to recommend Fujifilm’s Avigan drug to treat the coronavirus. Avigan, produced by the Fujifilm subsidiary, was approved for use in Japan in 2014 during the Ebola outbreak. Now, that use has expanded into China, with a seemingly successful trial.

Zhang Xinmin, an official at China’s Science and Technology Ministry, has told reporters that Favipiravir, another name under which Avigan is produced, “has been effective, with no obvious side-effects, in helping coronavirus patients recover”.

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