Japanese flu drug is ‘clearly effective’ in treating coronavirus, said Chinese medical experts.
The active ingredient in the medicine Avigan, Favipiravir, was tested on 340 patients with coronavirus in China.
Those who took Favipiravir recovered faster and showed better lung improvement than those who did not receive the drug.
It is thought that the component blocks the virus from replicating in the body.
Hong Kong researchers will investigate doses in more patients with coronavirus. But contradictory clinical trials suggest the active ingredient Favipiravir won’t be useful in patients who have severe medical condition.
There is no treatment yet for the new coronavirus but most people with mild symptoms can recover within a week.
Favipiravir has shown to be effective in treating flu strains, foot-and-mouth disease, yellow fever, and other virus families.
80 patients in Wuhan and in Shenzen received the active ingredient.
An official at Science and Technology Ministry in China, Zhang Xinmin, said to reporters that Favipiravir has been effective in treating coronavirus patients without obvious side effects.
“It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,” Mr. Xinmin said, The Guardian reported.
Those who received Favipiravir in Shenzhen tested negative for coronavirus around four days after diagnosis. Those who were not given the medicine had negative results after 11 days.
X-ray images also showed improvements in lung condition in 9 of 10 patients who received the medicine, compared to 6 of 10 without Favipiravir.
One internet user commented: “The only way caronavirus is different from the flu is that it’s new, and the “experts” and scientists don’t know how it behaves, so if doesnt behave in the same way you can’t say it’s the same.
But essentually it is the same because you get exactly the same symptoms and side effect of pnuemonia.”
Another wrote: “Make it available over here if it helps! Use some of the Foreign Aid money if necessary.”
A third added: “Why arent the Japanese experts telling Us this instead of the Chinese?”
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Replaced!