Favipiravir is quickly emerging as the top choice among 25 drug candidates that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is considering for COVID-19 treatment, the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a press release yesterday (April 30). Favipiravir is an antiviral drug that was originally made to treat the flu in Japan. It is also marketed in Russia and China.
CSIR is one of the government bodies leading India’s fight against COVID-19. In the absence of definitive treatment, this research organisation has been putting a lot of emphasis on repurposing existing drugs for treating coronavirus patients. This is because developing a new drug would take years.
On the other hand, the existing drug candidates can be quickly tested in clinical trials to check their efficiency against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
CSIR has already developed a cost-effective way to make favipiravir in the lab and has shared the formula with Cipla, an Indian-origin multinational pharmaceutical and biotech company that is a consistent partner of CSIR for developing affordable drugs both for India and the world. The company has already asked for permission from the Drug Controller General of India to launch this drug in India.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), favipiravir is an experimental antiviral drug that was licensed in Japan in 2014 to treat influenza virus infections. For influenza treatment, patients are given a 1600 mg dose of this drug on Day 1 and about 600 mg dose from Day 2 to 5.
The Chinese ministry of science and technology said in March that this drug is effective in treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, as seen in more than 300 patients. The drug was seen to reduce viral load and improve lung health.
Here’s how it works: Studies suggest that favipiravir gets activated inside the cells and then gets incorporated into the viral RNA, inducing mutations in the RNA and causing a massive reduction in viral load. It is also suggested that this drug binds to certain conserved areas in the viral RNA polymerase and stops the enzyme from performing its function.
Trials
In India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company has already received the green signal from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct clinical trials with favipiravir. Cipla has also applied for approval to conduct favipiravir investigations.
For their study, Glenmark will administer favipiravir to 150 COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate illness and compare the treatment with an equal and similar group of patients who got standard treatment at the same time. The treatment may go on for 14 days though the study may be done for a whole month (28 days).
Strides Pharma Science Ltd, another pharmaceutical company in India, has said that it has prepared favipiravir in their lab and has asked for permission to conduct trials.
Does India make favipiravir?
Strides Pharma Science Ltd, a Bangalore-based company, has already developed a generic version of favipiravir tablets in 400mg and 200 mg strengths. The company is reportedly approved by various organizations in the world, including the WHO and the US Food & Drug Administration and has the capacity to produce up to six billion tablets per year. As per media reports Strides Pharma has also teamed up with a leading Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) company to make sure that it can make the drug constantly and the supply chain is maintained.
Is India exporting favipiravir?
Strides Pharma Science Ltd has recently begun exporting favipiravir to various Gulf Cooperation Council Countries for the treatment of COVID-19 patients there.
Comparison
The action of hydroxychloroquine is quite different from both these drugs. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are immunomodulatory drugs that suppress inflammation in the body. Inflammation and excess cytokines are two of the major causes of lung damage and death in COVID-19 patients.
But while remdesivir competes with the ATP in the viral RNA, favipiravir is a purine analogue: it competes with both A and G base. What this means is that while remdesivir replaces the ATP in the viral RNA, to change the virus enough that it can no longer make copies of itself, favipiravir tries to achieve the same effect by trying to take the place of A and G nitrogenous bases in the viral RNA.
Side effects ?
Those who have a history of allergy to any of the ingredients of favipiravir are not given this drug.
Trials started ?
A study done in China found that favipiravir is more effective and safer than the combination of lopinavir-ritonavir. The latter is a drug combination which is originally used to treat and prevent HIV and is another repurposed drug candidate for COVID-19.
Another study found that favipiravir works more quickly than arbidol (another broad-spectrum antiviral drug used to treat influenza in some countries). However, there was no significant difference between the number of people who recovered from the disease.
More studies are currently underway to check the effectiveness of favipiravir on COVID-19 patients.
Source
CSIR is one of the government bodies leading India’s fight against COVID-19. In the absence of definitive treatment, this research organisation has been putting a lot of emphasis on repurposing existing drugs for treating coronavirus patients. This is because developing a new drug would take years.
On the other hand, the existing drug candidates can be quickly tested in clinical trials to check their efficiency against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
CSIR has already developed a cost-effective way to make favipiravir in the lab and has shared the formula with Cipla, an Indian-origin multinational pharmaceutical and biotech company that is a consistent partner of CSIR for developing affordable drugs both for India and the world. The company has already asked for permission from the Drug Controller General of India to launch this drug in India.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), favipiravir is an experimental antiviral drug that was licensed in Japan in 2014 to treat influenza virus infections. For influenza treatment, patients are given a 1600 mg dose of this drug on Day 1 and about 600 mg dose from Day 2 to 5.
The Chinese ministry of science and technology said in March that this drug is effective in treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, as seen in more than 300 patients. The drug was seen to reduce viral load and improve lung health.
Here’s how it works: Studies suggest that favipiravir gets activated inside the cells and then gets incorporated into the viral RNA, inducing mutations in the RNA and causing a massive reduction in viral load. It is also suggested that this drug binds to certain conserved areas in the viral RNA polymerase and stops the enzyme from performing its function.
Trials
In India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company has already received the green signal from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct clinical trials with favipiravir. Cipla has also applied for approval to conduct favipiravir investigations.
For their study, Glenmark will administer favipiravir to 150 COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate illness and compare the treatment with an equal and similar group of patients who got standard treatment at the same time. The treatment may go on for 14 days though the study may be done for a whole month (28 days).
Strides Pharma Science Ltd, another pharmaceutical company in India, has said that it has prepared favipiravir in their lab and has asked for permission to conduct trials.
Does India make favipiravir?
Strides Pharma Science Ltd, a Bangalore-based company, has already developed a generic version of favipiravir tablets in 400mg and 200 mg strengths. The company is reportedly approved by various organizations in the world, including the WHO and the US Food & Drug Administration and has the capacity to produce up to six billion tablets per year. As per media reports Strides Pharma has also teamed up with a leading Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) company to make sure that it can make the drug constantly and the supply chain is maintained.
Is India exporting favipiravir?
Strides Pharma Science Ltd has recently begun exporting favipiravir to various Gulf Cooperation Council Countries for the treatment of COVID-19 patients there.
Comparison
The action of hydroxychloroquine is quite different from both these drugs. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are immunomodulatory drugs that suppress inflammation in the body. Inflammation and excess cytokines are two of the major causes of lung damage and death in COVID-19 patients.
But while remdesivir competes with the ATP in the viral RNA, favipiravir is a purine analogue: it competes with both A and G base. What this means is that while remdesivir replaces the ATP in the viral RNA, to change the virus enough that it can no longer make copies of itself, favipiravir tries to achieve the same effect by trying to take the place of A and G nitrogenous bases in the viral RNA.
Side effects ?
Those who have a history of allergy to any of the ingredients of favipiravir are not given this drug.
Trials started ?
A study done in China found that favipiravir is more effective and safer than the combination of lopinavir-ritonavir. The latter is a drug combination which is originally used to treat and prevent HIV and is another repurposed drug candidate for COVID-19.
Another study found that favipiravir works more quickly than arbidol (another broad-spectrum antiviral drug used to treat influenza in some countries). However, there was no significant difference between the number of people who recovered from the disease.
More studies are currently underway to check the effectiveness of favipiravir on COVID-19 patients.
Source