China Starts Production of the First Drug against Coronavirus

China is currently producing large amounts of favipiravir, first antiviral drug approved to fight Covid-19 outbreak, from which about 1,770 people have already died and other 70,548 have been infected.

According to China Daily, this is a generic version of the anti-catarrhal fapilavir and the National Medical Products Administration approved it for its commercialization.

Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. manufactures a wide range of favipiravir after receiving the approval and the drug will be administrated in the stages of prevention and treatment of respiratory disease.

Favipiravir is one of the three products currently undergoing clinical trials in 70 Covid-19 patients, who come from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

So far, the clinical trials have shown positive results and the side effects are very slight, China Daily reported, citing official sources.

The other drugs tested are chloroquine phosphate, used to fight malaria, and remdesivir, created to fight Ebola. They inhibited the development of the virus at the cellular level and there have been an improvement in patients to whom the drugs were administered.