TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp <4901.T> said on Thursday it has partnered with Shanghai-based Carelink Pharmaceutical Co to seek approval in China for Avigan to treat COVID-19 and influenza.
Carelink will use Fujifilm’s data on Avigan’s treatment of novel coronavirus infections and influenza to seek imported drug approval in China, Fujifilm said in a statement. The two companies also plan to develop an injectable form of the drug.
Fujifilm said last week it was seeking approval for Avigan as a treatment for COVID-19 in Japan. That followed results from a late-stage study in Japan that showed the antiviral drug reduced recovery time for patients with non-severe symptoms.
Avigan, originally developed as an emergency flu drug and known generically worldwide as favipiravir, has been approved in India and Russia to treat COVID-19.
Fujifilm sold global rights in July on Avigan to India’s Dr Reddy’s Laboratories <REDY.NS> and Dubai-based Global Response Aid. That deal excluded China, Japan and Russia.
Last month, Fujifilm said the late-stage study of 156 COVID-19 patients in Japan showed that symptoms of those treated with Avigan improved after 11.9 days, versus 14.7 days for a placebo group.
Results of the study, conducted by subsidiary Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, were found to be statistically significant.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
