RE: Favipiravir: Will it be a rescue therapy for COVID-19?
References
1. Wei Liu, Pengxiang Zhou, Ken Chen, et al. Efficacy and safety of antiviral treatment for COVID-19 from evidence in studies of SARSCoV-2 and other acute viral infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis. CMAJ 2020;10.1503/cmaj.200647.
XinhuaNet. Favipiravir shows good clinical efficacy in treating COVID-19: official. From. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/ 2020-03/17/c_138888226.htm. [Accessed 19 March 2020].
Cai Q, Yang M, Liu D, Chen J, Shu D et al. Experimental treatment with favipiravir for COVID-19: an open-label control study. Engineering 2020. doi: 10.1016/j.eng.2020.03.007
Jean S-S, Lee P-I, Hsueh P-R. Treatment options for COVID-19: The reality and challenges. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2020 Jun;53(3):436–43.
Genome sequencing of the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2) identified the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor (RdRp) gene of the virus to be similar to those of SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Therefore, favipiravir is considered as a potential candidate for COVID-19 treatment. RdRp inhibitor favipiravir, a guanine analogue, exhibits in vitro activity against oseltamivir-resistant influenza A, B, and C viruses.1 Recently, clinical studies have demonstrated favipiravir to have promising effects in the reatment of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the drug was approved for the treatment of COVID-19 in China in March, 2020.2 Favipiravir has shown independent association with faster viral clearance.3 Randomized controlled trials (RCT) are under way to evaluate the efficacy of favipiravir plus interferon-α and favipiravir plus baloxavir marboxil.4