The Philippines will be running clinical trials using the Japanese anti-flu drug Avigan to see if it could treat COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) announced yesterday.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing that Japan will be sending free supplies of the drug, manufactured by Fujilfilm Toyoma Chemical, in the next few days.
“We will choose the hospitals that we will include in this [clinical] trial. And we will impose a protocol on those hospitals which they will have to follow when choosing the patients [who will use the drug],” Vergeire said in English and Filipino, and added that patients will be asked for their consent before being administered Avigan.
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“We continue to coordinate with Japan for the supply of this drug called Avigan which they will send. They have already given the go-signal [to use this drug],” she said.
In an interview with news program 24 Oras, however, she warned that Avigan could be dangerous for pregnant women.
“Be careful in using Avigan because based on data, it’s not safe for pregnant women to use,” she said.
Chinese authorities reported that they witnessed “very good clinical results” when Avigan was tested last month in Shenzhen and Wuhan, AFP reports, where the drug reportedly shortened the recovery time of patients.
A cure for COVID-19 has yet to be found, but the Philippine General Hospital in Manila is using an experimental treatment where blood is transfused from a recovered coronavirus carrier into another patient. Research has shown that the blood of a recovered person contains antibodies that have successfully fought off the virus which could help other people recover.
The Philippines recorded 10,004 COVID-19 patients yesterday afternoon, with 658 deaths and 1,506 recoveries.
