A clinical trial in Japan of Fujifilm Holdings Corp’s Avigan drug yielded inconclusive results as a treatment of Covid-19.
The drug, which has been shown to cause birth defects in animal studies, has already been approved as a Covid-19 treatment in Russia and India.
Although patients given the drug early in the Japanese trial showed more improvement than those who got delayed doses, the results did not reach statistical significance, Fujita Health University researcher Yohei Doi said in a press conference in Japan on Friday.
Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, had said he hoped the drug would be approved as a Covid-19 treatment in May but a shortage of patients in Japan delayed the progress of clinical trials.
Interest in the drug, known generically as favipiravir, soared in March after a Chinese official said it appeared to help patients recover from COVID-19. It is now the subject of at least 25 clinical trials around the world.
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