Although it was officially registered to combat seasonal influenza, the Avigan drug is also useful in the treatment of Covid-19 and will be marketed in Mexico by the firm Cell virusin alliance with Carnot Laboratories.
Because, in the country, medicines against this virus are generally distributed by the federal government, like vaccines, the company requested permission to market it against seasonal influenza.
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The drug Avigan was originally developed by Fujifilm in Japan as a powerful, broad-spectrum antiviral.since this molecule was approved in that country since 2014 for the treatment of pandemic influenza.
Since then, it has evolved and is now effective against 12 families of viruses.including coronavirus (Covid, MERS, SARS), filovirus (Ebola, Marburg) flavivirus (zika, West Line, dengue), norovirus and others.
Mary O’Brien, CEO of Cellvera, said in an interview that the alliance with Laboratorios Carnot arose because they were looking for a partner with a strong presence in the country to help them activate other markets.
Avigan obtained approval from the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) in September 2021 as a treatment for influenzabut the drug also works to treat Covid-19.
Therefore, the company continues to see market potential, although the end of the pandemic is about to be declared in the United States, since not all countries have the same level of vaccination and reinforcement. Also, vaccines by themselves will not kill Covid-19.
O’Brien added that, as in other Latin American countries, they recognize the Cofepris drug approval standard, and with the registration in Mexico they can start the registration to market the drug in other countries.
According to data from the pharmaceutical industry, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus was the second most common cause of death in 2021 with approximately 23,000 more deaths than those registered in 2020 in Mexico, while influenza and pneumonia they are also among the ten leading causes of death in the country.
Cellvera is a biopharmaceutical company originating in Dubai, with barely three and a half years of existence and its strategy with Favipiravir, the name of Avigan’s chemical substance, is little by little to find new permits to market the drug
With information from El Universal
