Japanese miracle cure for COVID-19? It is being tested in Hungary

Favipiravir is an antiviral medication developed in Japan. Several tests are being done to see how effective it is against the novel coronavirus. So far, it seems that it is able to eradicate the virus from the body in six days. Testing starts in Hungary soon.

The National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition recently approved the clinical testing of favipiravir on coronavirus patients in Hungary, 24 reports.

A hundred COVID-19 patients will be tested for the first time ever in Hungary with the Japanese medicine. Tests will be carried out by medical universities and the National Korányi Institute of Pulmonology (five health institutions in total), György Keserű, a scientific advisor and corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences told M1.

Hungary received enough medicine from Japan to treat 100 patients, who will be tested in the five appointed healthcare institutions. The aim of these clinical tests is to confirm the medicine’s effectiveness so that it could be completely approved for medical use against COVID-19, which could take six to twelve months. 

Favipiravir is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza in Japan. It is also being studied to treat a number of other viral infections. Like the experimental antiviral drugs T-1105 and T-1106, it is a pyrazine carboxamide derivative, and it was approved for medical use in 2014. It became a generic drug in 2019, allowing the company to produce it in the People’s Republic of China.

Favipiravir has successfully treated COVID-19 patients with moderate symptoms in Japan. It was even effective with patients with incipient pneumonia, Keserű added. The scholar also emphasised how favipiravir was found to eradicate coronavirus from the body in six days, and it also helped terminate common symptoms, like fever, shortness of breath, or cough within 12 days, so there was no need for intensive care.

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Source: www.24.hu