Is the anti-flu drug Avigan effective in treating COVID-19?
An experimental new study has tested the efficacy of favipiravir (Avigan) for treating COVID-19.
Recently, there's been much media speculation around japan anti-flu drug favipiravir (brand Avigan) being effective against SARS-CoV-2. It is the virus that causes COVID-19.
The reason being Chinese officials announced in a press conference that the drug could effectively regard this virus.
Since then, the results of 1 of both clinical trials that the Chinese officials cited have grown to be available. We take a look at the findings and clarify why people must interpret them with caution.
Qingxian Cai, of the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases at THE 3RD People’s Hospital of Shenzhen in China, is the first writer of the paper, which now appears in the journal Engineering.
Comparing favipiravir with an HIV drug
As Cai and colleagues make clear in their paper, the need for effective antiviral agents capable of combating COVID-19 is dire.
In this context, a competent approach for drug discovery appears to be to test existing antiviral drugs and see whether or not they are well suited for repurposing.
Healthcare professionals have previously used drugs such as for example ribavirin, interferon, favipiravir, and lopinavir/ritonavir to take care of extreme acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome. These are diseases due to other coronaviruses. However, the efficacy of many of these drugs is questionable, warn the researchers.
Having said that, past studies that Cai and team cite within their paper have demonstrated that favipiravir, the anti-flu drug, successfully inhibits SARS-Cov-2 in a few cultured cells and protects mice against Ebola.
So, the scientists set out to test the results of treating SARS-Cov-2 using favipiravir, and also to compare its efficacy with that of lopinavir/ritonavir.
Lopinavir can be an HIV inhibitor that emerged as a potential treatment for the SARS outbreak in 2003. Manufacturers often add ritonavir to lopinavir to improve its half life and reduce its unwanted effects.
Favipiravir may combat SARS-CoV-2
The recent study was a non-randomized comparison of two treatment regimens across time. Participants were all patients at The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen.
On day one (in early February), one study group - comprising 35 people, all of whom had a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and met the trial criteria, including age and illness severity - took 1,600 milligrams (mg) of favipiravir twice (in two separate doses), plus inhaled interferon.
On day two and beyond, this group reduced their dosage to 600 mg twice daily, and they kept taking inhaled interferon.
The control group comprised 45 patients admitted in the last week of January. They took lopinavir/ritonavir for 14 days at a dosage of 400 mg, then 100 mg, twice daily, in addition to the inhaled interferon.
Those that took favipiravir cleared the virus within an average of 4 days. Those in the control group cleared it in 11 days.
The favipiravir group also “showed significant improvement in chest imaging compared with the control arm, with an improvement rate of 91.43% versus 62.22%,” report the researchers.
Statistical calculations showed that favipiravir “was independently associated with faster viral clearance. In addition, fewer effects were found in the [favipiravir group] than in the control group.”
As Cai and colleagues conclude, “In this open-label non-randomized control study, [favipiravir] showed significantly better treatment effects on COVID-19 regarding disease progression and viral clearance.”
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
