Zhejiang Hisun Pharma (SHA: 600267) reported that its in-licensed anti-viral drug, favipiravir, was effective in China trials to treat COVID-19 patients. Hisun, which acquired China rights to favipiravir from Japan's Fujifilm in 2016, said the drug reduced the mean time-to-virus-clearance for patients with the coronavirus to four days from eleven days in the control group, which was treated with a lopinavir/ritonavir combination. In the trial, which was conducted at the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen, favipiravir alleviated the pneumonia symptoms of COVID-19 patients with few adverse reactions, though the anti-viral was less effective in patients advanced disease.

Following favipiravir treatment, 72% of patients who received the drug were fever-free in two days, versus only 26% of the control group. Chest-imaging showed 91 % of favipiravir patients improved against 62% of the control group. Only 11% of the favipiravir patients had adverse reactions compared to 56% of the control group.

Favipiravir, a pyrazinecarboxamide derivative, is aimed at RNA virus diseases, though it is more effective against some -- influenza, West Nile, yellow fever, foot-and-mouth diseases -- than others, for example Zika, where it has only limited activity. Favipiravir is an oral drug, making it easy to administer.

In Japan, favipiravir is included in the national strategic stockpile to fight viral outbreaks, and it is being administered there to COVID-19 patients.

Hisun is mainly involved in specialty bulk pharmaceutical chemicals and preparation products. Its pharmaceutical chemicals include antineoplastic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, anti-infection drugs, endocrine control drugs, as well as animal therapies.

Zhang Xinmin, an official at China’s science and technology ministry, said favipiravir had produced encouraging outcomes in clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzhen involving 340 patients. “It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,” Zhang told reporters earlier this week.

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Disclosure: none.