Egypt has received samples of a Japanese flu drug – known as Avigan – that could be used as a treatment of the coronavirus pandemic, its minister of higher education said on Thursday. Egyptian authorities had conducted talks with the Japanese government to receive the samples of the antiviral drug to launch small trials around one month ago, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said at local TV channel. The antiviral drug, which is also known as favipiravir, has emerged as a potential drug to treat patients infected with the coronavirus. It has been developed by Japanese company Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Company, a unit of Fujifilm Holdings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has on Wednesday given the green light for the country's first clinical trial of the new drug, to be used by three Massachusetts hospitals. Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester will launch small trials of the drug, a doctor involved in the efforts told the Boston Globe. The U.S. trials would involve around 50 or 60 patients with the coronavirus, the Boston Globe reported. Dr. Keith T. Flaherty from the Massachusetts General Hospital further told the Boston Global that the Avigan study was among the more promising of around 30 clinical trials considered by the hospital. In China, the drug was hailed by health officials there as "clearly effective" when used on 340 patients in trials in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, as it showed reduced recovery time and improved lung function, The New York Post reported. These patients tested negative for the virus with a median of four days after becoming positive — much lower than the average of 11 days for those who were not given the medicine, according to the Guardian. On April 5, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said his country intends to provide nations stricken by the coronavirus pandemic with the Avigan free of charge. He said the clinical trials were underway in the Asian country to ensure its effectiveness and safety for potential use in treating symptoms caused by the virus. The Japanese government had so far received requests for the new drug from more than 30 countries, Suga added. The government plans to expand clinical trials of Avigan while having discussions with the countries that placed the requests, he said. Japan intends to provide each of those nations with the amount of the drug they need, free of charge, Suga asserted. A week earlier, Nikkei Asian Review reported that the German government wants to buy large amounts of Avigan to treat coronavirus patients with severe illness. Germany is aiming for short-term stockpiling of Avigan, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
