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| PHOTGRAPH SOURCE: AKIO KON/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES-AVIGAN TABLET PRODUCED BY JAPAN AND APPROVED IN 2014 |
Fujifilm Holding Co has claimed that it has developed anti-viral
drug for the Coronavirus cure that cuts the time of the outcome for about two
hours.
The subsidiary of Fujifilm Holding
Corporation produced the vaccine; the name Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical Corp
will be available on April 15, 2020, according to the company released.
The developed SARS-CoV-2RT-qPCRDetection kit is much faster-delivering results against viruses cause
coronavirus outbreak than common polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which
has a result time of four to six hours, the company claimed.
Already China is using anti-flu drug
Avigan, produce by another subsidiary of Photograph and imaging giant in Japan
Toyama chemical, as a treatment for covid-19 infected patients.
Turkey and Japan are using the antiviral
pill Avigan as a test caring novel coronavirus.
The giant Fujifilm has made up a team of
100 employees to complete the task of finding an antiviral pill or vaccine that
helps in fight with novel coronavirus patients assigned by Japan’s health
Minister Katsunobu Kate. At that time, only some 130 citizens were suffered
from CoVid-19.
The unprecedented growth in the spread
of coronavirus all over the world, when no vaccine, antiviral drug or other
kinds of cure is available in the region, Kato hoped that the vaccine or
medicine called Avigan could be helpful to handle the wave of patients as a
result of coronavirus, which was developed by Toyama chemical before decades
that is in 1998, a sub-unit of Fujifilm.
The Fujifilm's team in collaboration
with other government-designated teams such as clinical researchers, offices,
and factories, has made contingency plans how rapidly they put the medicine
into the shelves of hospitals by producing at large scale with the back of
approval by the government of Japan, treating numerous patients affected by
Covid-19.
Finally, Early March 28, Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe said to Wired
that His government had begun a formal process to announce Avigan as Standard
treatment for CoVid-19. Albeit, no detailed data is available supporting Avigan
as an effective treatment for CoVid-19.
The clinical trial of it is the most
important and critical step of that process, which will be concluded at the end
of June.
Although China’s official, Zhang Xinmin
spokesperson at China Ministry of Science and Technology, declared on March 17,
the effectiveness of Favipiravir, a generic version of Avigan, controlling
novel coronavirus spread among people or patients in the hospitals of Wuhan and
Shenzhen. Still, no comments were passed by the company at that time on this
statement.
This is the main rationale or reason
that develops optimism about it, a future fighter for human against coronavirus.
The way of Favipiravir work is different
from the rest of the influenza-related treatments. The Favipiravir attempts to
prevent replication of viral genes of the virus inside infected cells, which
helps to stop the transmission of the virus from one cell to other cells. While
other anti-influenza drugs stop the transfer of infection across the cells by
blocking the enzyme neuraminidase.
What does it mean? It means the patients
showing primary or moderate symptoms of SARS-Covid-19, can be the best curing
using Favipiravi for the time being. Fruitful results of antiviral pills in
diseases other than influenza are the reasons that include the Japan Prime
Minister Abe in the list of believers. On March 28, he announced that: “start
to boost production and proceed with clinical research in cooperation with
those countries that wish to join us.”
He also added that many countries had already shown their
interest in medicine.
Mr. Abe has not to pinpoint the name of
any country, but the United States might be included in that list.
Fujifilm has tabled the matter with FDA
(Food and Drug Administration) and the US Department of Health and Human
Services to explore all the possibilities of Avigan clinical trial in the US,
and to look for research aid from the US government, according to the paper
published recently in Politico. After Abe called to President Trump on Avigan,
the White House National Security Council began stressing the government to
accept the aid of Avigan from Japan and urging the FDA to allow its use on an
emergency basis.
After the announcement By Abe for
funding the Avigan along with the stockpiling for 2 million people, the company
shares hit an all-time high of 6,420 yen on Monday in the broader Topix Index,
a 17% increase since the start of the year, reported by Bloomberg.
Brief Historical Background
In 2014, the first time it was used to
combat with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) breakout in Guinea on an emergency basis
when positive results received from experiments conducted on mice and its
transmission was ended in December 2015, declared by World Health Organization.
EVD also passed through clinical trial
arranged by the French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM: Stands
for Institut de la senate et de la research medicale) to verify its efficacy in
at four Ebola TreatmentCenters in Guinea during the period December 2014 to May 2015. The Avigan
Tablet was given to 126 patients, and none of them showed any adverse effect
confirming the drug’s safety.
Based on the outcomes of these clinical
experiments, The Guinean Government officially adopted Antiviral pill Avigan as
the standard treatment for EVD.