Fujifilm’s Avigan 200mg (Favipiravir): Efficacy as a Treatment for Ebola Virus Disease is Suggested

This is an update to the previous blog, Fujifilm’s Technology in Photo Development Will Be Used to Develop a Rapid Diagnostic System for Ebola Virus Disease.

This video presents Ebola update new flu drug tested on patient 10 06 2014 #ebola.

Fujifilm Avigan® Tablet 200mg* (Favipiravir) tablets: image extracted from video above

“Taking this medicine as early as possible (means) the mortality rate can be significantly reduced….”

There are no drugs on the market to treat Ebola, which has ravaged West Africa and killed 9,177 of the nearly 23,000 people infected since late 2013. Clinical trials of other experimental drugs are underway but are at an earlier stage…”

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/03/national/science-health/japanese-firm-behind-ebola-drug-says-results-clinical-trials-offer-hope/#.VQj3v0ZCCPR

View image | gettyimages.com
Avigan influenza tablets, produced by Fujifilm Holdings Corp., are arranged for a photograph at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Fujifilm, which makes the Avigan drug used as part of clinical trials in Ebola patients, said aid group Doctors Without Borders may use the drug among its experimental treatments. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Credit: Bloomberg

NEWS RELEASE

Efficacy of Avigan® Tablet 200mg as a treatment for Ebola virus disease (EVD) suggested in clinical trial (interim analysis)

February 24, 2015

FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Shigehiro Nakajima) announced that the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) ** released today an interim analysis of the clinical trial suggesting the efficacy of anti-influenza drug Avigan® Tablet 200mg* (Favipiravir), which is being provided to clinical trials in Guinea for patients with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

[ Announcement Details ]

For patients group with a high or moderate viral load at the beginning of treatment ***, the rate of mortality when compared to treatment results of patients of the same level who received basic care *4 in the three months preceding the trial was halved (30% → 15%), demonstrating encouraging signs of efficacy.
For patients group with a very high viral load at the beginning of treatment *5, 81% had refractory renal failure when arriving at the treatment center, and a signal that the administration of Avigan® Tablets led to a decreased mortality rate was unable to be demonstrated.
Although compared to influenza treatment high doses were administered for ten days, adverse events were not observed.

Details about the results of the interim analysis are scheduled to be announced at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) to be held in Seattle on February 25.

The anti-influenza drug Avigan® Tablets was developed by the Fujifilm Group company Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd. Results of mouse experiments showing the antiviral effect of Avigan® Tablets against EVD have been published, and Avigan® Tablets have already been administered as an emergency response to multiple patients infected with EVD. Following this, from December 17 last year, Inserm conducted clinical trials at four EVD treatment centers in Guinea to investigate the efficacy of Avigan® Tablets for the treatment of EVD patients.*6
Interim analysis results from the first 80 cases of this clinical trial have been published.

“Given that the efficacy of Avigan® Tablets for the treatment of EVD is suggested, the Fujifilm Group will continue to contribute to the termination of the EVD infection, and fully cooperate with the governments of France and Guinea, as well as the relevant authorities in Japan towards establishing a treatment for EVD” said Takatoshi Ishikawa, Senior Vice President, General Manager of Pharmaceutical Products Division at FUJIFILM Corporation.
The Japanese government has announced that it is prepared to provide drugs developed by Japanese companies that might prove effective in the treatment of EVD. Fujifilm will continue to respond to the requests of the various countries with infected patients while discussing with the Japanese government.