TOKYO - In the global hunt for coronavirus treatments, a Japanese antiviral medicine known as Avigan has won plaudits from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US$128 million in government funding.Camostat, a 35-year old pancreatitis drug made by Osaka-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co, has captured the interest of scientists in Japan and overseas with little fanfare or state assistance.
Mr Abe has called for Avigan to be approved for use by the end of this month if these trials are effective - unprecedented speed, particularly for a drug known to cause birth defects. "The use of Avigan has nothing to do with the relationship between the Prime Minister and any particular company," she said.
After being tested against a range of viruses, Avigan was finally approved in Japan in 2014, but only for emergency use against flu epidemics, and it was licensed in China where it has since gone off patent. One of them was Dr Joseph Vinetz, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, who is ready to launch a clinical trial of camostat.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
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