3 hospitals in Massachusetts have received approval to launch the first American clinical trial of a Japanese flu drug that can be used to treat COVID-19, according to a doctor involved in this experiment.
The New York Post website reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the green light to the country’s first clinical trial of a Japanese flu drug that could be used to treat coronavirus.-
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A doctor involved in the efforts told Boston Globe “bostonglobe” that 3 hospitals had been given approval to start small trials on the antiviral drug faviravir.
Doctors participating in the study said that the small randomized trial of the antiviral drug favipiravir will examine its efficacy as a treatment for patients with coronavirus.
One of the main axes of this effort has included research into existing antivirals to see if they are effective against the coronavirus or not, and the initial US trial, as Massachusetts researchers planned, will include approximately 50 or 60 patients across the three sites.
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According to the officials involved in the experiment, one group will receive the medication along with the normal standard of care, while the second control group will only receive the regular care that COVID-19 patients currently receive. No other details about the protocol were immediately available.
Chinese health officials have praised the drug, also known as the Avicane brand, as “clearly effective” when used in 340 patients in experiments there that showed reduced healing time and improved lung function.
The results showed that patients who took the drug in Shenzhen, China, showed negative results for the virus within an average of 4 days after they became positive, well below the 11-day average for those who did not receive the drug, according to The Guardian.
Sources told the newspaper that the researchers would be given one set of the drug in addition to the typical care for patients with the Coruna virus, while the control group would only receive the normal level of treatment.
Dr. Keith Flaherty of Massachusetts General Hospital said that the faviravir study was among the most promising in about 30 clinical trials considered by the hospital, so we have to prioritize.
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