Avigan tablets are displayed during a photo opportunity at Fujifilm headquarters in Tokyo. REUTERS / Issei Kato
Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T) said on Wednesday that it has begun a new phase III trial in Japan with its Avigan drug for COVID-19, reviving hopes for a home treatment for the virus.
The internal approval for the antiviral drug to treat coronavirus had a retrograde in December, after a group of the Ministry of Health said that the study data are not conclusive.
Over the years, Fujifilm has pivoted from its traditional business of rooms and offices to health care. [nT9N2LY00R
The new double-blind, placebo-controlled study is targeting patients aged 50 and older, as well as those at risk of developing serious conditions, Fujifilm said in a release.
Avigan, known generically as favipiravir, has been studied in dozens of trials worldwide, and it has been approved as a COVID-19 treatment in Russia, India and Indonesia. But concerns remain, as the drug has been shown to cause birth defects in animal studies.
Japan has already approved Avigan as an emergency flu medicine, and the government last year called on Fujifilm to triple national stockpiles of the drug.
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