Coronovavirus – Avigan drug to be tested in Hungary

Hungary has been selected as one of the first countries to get Avigan for treatment of Covid-19 patients and will run further clinical tests on the drug with the active ingredient favipiravir registered in Japan, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a Facebook video on Saturday.

A shipment of 12,200 Avigan pills – enough to treat 100 patients – arrived in Hungary on Saturday morning, Szijjártó said, adding that the medicine had been sent to the research centre of the University of Pécs, in southern Hungary.

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Avigan was registered in Japan as an influenza drug but has been found effective against the novel coronavirus.

Professor Gábor L Kovács said in the same video that the pills will be used for clinical tests on 100 Hungarian patients “under controlled conditions and with the utmost care”.

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