Fujifilm to accelerate the manufacturing of Avigan to treat COVID-19

Fujifilm, a renowned Japanese pharmaceutical company, has reportedly announced plans to boost the production of Avigan, an antiviral drug said to be a possible therapy for coronavirus. Avigan is primarily used to treat Influenza.

The company is aiming to provide this drug in large quantities in order to meet the nationwide growing need for antiviral drugs. The company hopes to produce hundreds of thousands of Avigan doses during the coming months.

The drug maker is currently increasing its production capacity in its Toyoma facility to accelerate the production rate. Since the company is planning large-scale production for Avigan, it has created strategic collaborations with international and domestic firms to provide the raw material for manufacturing Avigan and has also added capacity at its Mako Pure Chemical Co. unit to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients of the drug.

Since Fujifilm will now have its massive production in place, it is expecting to produce 100,000 Avigan treatments courses ready for use by July. This number of 3.5 times Avigan’s supply in March and the company has further plans to manufacture 300,000 regimens in place by September.

Japanese drug maker, last month, stated its intentions to accelerate the production of Avigan, after the news made a global impact. However, the company also made some clarifications about its use. The company particularly specified that the Influenza treatment drug has never been distributed in any market and that it is not available in any pharmacies and hospitals across Japan as well as overseas.

Avigan is an antiviral drug developed by the Toyama Chemical unit of Fujifilm and it received approval for sale back in 2014 to treat influenza. However, it was told that this drug can only be used when all other treatments turn out to be ineffective against a re-emerging or novel influenza virus.

While talking about this drug, Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan stated that the government would soon initiate tests of Avigan in coronavirus patients in collaboration with other nations and simultaneously accelerate the production while aiming a faster approval for the drug.

Source credit: https://www.fiercepharma.com/manufacturing/fujifilm-speeds-production-potential-covid-19-therapy-avigan