Fujifilm seeks government approval for a COVID-19 treatment that is said to speed up recovery

Fujifilm said that it will ask the Japanese government to approve its anti-influenza drug Avigan as a coronavirus treatment after a monthslong clinical trial showed the drug speeds up recovery for COVID-19 patients. The study found that patients who received Avigan recovered in 11.9 days, compared to 14.7 days for patients in a placebo group. Before the pandemic, the Japanese government maintained a stockpile of Avigan in case of an influenza outbreak, but the drug was never available on the market, in part due to animal studies conducted prior to its 2014 regulatory approval that found evidence of birth defects.