Fujifilm: Increasing production of the novel coronavirus potential drug Avignan

Fujifilm Japan (FUJIFILM Corporation) announced on April 15 that it has expanded the production capacity of its subsidiary FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical to increase the production of anti-influenza virus drugs for new crown patients-"Avigan tablets" (Generic name: Fapiravir).

To further increase Avignan's supply, Fujifilm is allocating more production capacity to Japan's FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Co., Ltd. to produce pharmaceutical intermediates required by Avignan.

Fujifilm said it will gradually increase Avignan's output, and by July, it will produce as many as 100,000 treatments per month. This is about 2.5 times the output when the company started this production in early March. In addition, Fujifilm plans to further accelerate production to increase production to the amount required for 300,000 courses by September.

Avigan, which is approved for production and sales in Japan, is commonly used as an anti-influenza virus drug, which can selectively inhibit the viral ribonucleic acid polymerase needed for influenza virus replication. Because of this mechanism of action, Avigan may be effective in treating new coronaviruses, because new coronaviruses, like influenza viruses, are also single-stranded ribonucleic acid viruses that rely on viral ribonucleic acid polymerase for replication.