The governments of Guinea and France are considering implementing medium-scale clinical trials in November of Fujifilm's Avigan (favipiravir) for the treatment of Ebola, following news that a nurse treated with a combination including the drug has recovered.
IHS Life Sciences perspective | |
Significance | Fujifilm (Japan) said on 6 October that France and Guinea are considering the implementation next month of a medium-scale clinical trial of its anti-influenza treatment Avigan (favipiravir) to determine its efficacy against Ebola. |
Implications | The announcement comes amid news that a French nurse who was infected with the Ebola virus has recovered after receiving a combination treatment including favipiravir. Fujifilm is currently involved in discussions with the governments of Japan, France, and Guinea. |
Outlook | As there are as yet no approved Ebola therapies, the development and testing of potential treatments remains a key focus in fighting the virus responsible for over 3,000 deaths in West Africa. |
Fujifilm (Japan) said on October 6 that the governments of France and Guinea are considering conducting in November medium-scale clinical trials of the Japanese company's anti-influenza treatment Avigan (favipiravir) to determine its effectiveness against Ebola.
In a news release, Fujifilm said a French nurse who was infected with the Ebola virus and treated with a combination of Avigan and other unapproved treatments has recovered and left hospital.
The French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) had requested that Avigan be administered to the nurse, who was a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders and became infected with the Ebola virus while on a mission in Liberia. Fujifilm, whose Toyama Chemical unit had developed Avigan as an anti-influenza medicine, provided the treatment as an emergency measure after consulting with the Japanese government.
Meanwhile, an Ebola patient from Uganda was also administered Avigan at University Hospital Frankfurt on 4 October, according to Fujifilm. The patient had been carrying out medical work in Sierra Leone and was evacuated to Germany for treatment after contracting the Ebola virus. Avigan was similarly provided as an emergency measure following discussions with the Japanese government.
Outlook and implications
The news of potential clinical trials of Fujifilm's Avigan is significant, as it is a vote of confidence in favipiravir given the reported recovery of the French nurse. Fujifilm had offered its favipiravir drug to the World Health Organization (WHO) in August (see Sub-Saharan Africa - Japan: 26 August 2014: Fujifilm offers experimental Ebola treatment to WHO), but at the time its efficacy was uncertain).
Another potential benefit is that Fujifilm has a large enough stock of Avigan to treat 20,000 patients, significantly more than Mapp Biopharmaceutical's (US) Zmapp, whose stocks have run out, according to media reports (see United States: 3 October 2014: Nearly 100 people under Ebola observation in US as HHS tries to boost supply of experimental ZMapp).
In the meantime, the focus has been on treatments developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Tekmira (Canada), BioCryst (US), Sarepta (US), and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, UK; see World - United Kingdom: GSK's Ebola candidate to enter clinical trials as WHO warns 20,000 people at risk and Sub-Saharan Africa - United States: 4 September 2014: J&J fast-tracks Ebola vaccine trials, US government funds development of ZMapp). In the past few days, scientists in Thailand have also announced the discovery of a viable Ebola treatment.
Possible advantages include the fact that the side effects of favipiravir are known. The treatment, which is marketed as Avigan Tablet, was approved in March in Japan as an anti-influenza treatment and is currently in late-stage clinical trials in the United States. Fujifilm has suggested that the treatment may be effective against Ebola, which is similar to flu.
As the death toll from the Ebola outbreak surpasses 3,000 (source: WHO) and with no approved therapies materialising, governments, doctors, and health agencies worldwide are scrambling to test experimental drugs in the hope of finding an effective treatment. In August, the WHO said it was ethical for experimental Ebola virus disease (EVD) treatments to be used where the benefit outweighs the potential risk (see World: 13 August 2014: WHO authorises use of experimental Ebola treatments).
Fujifilm has received several requests from countries for Avigan and plans to continue discussions with the Japanese government on how to respond, the company said.
The current Ebola outbreak has led to 7,470 reported infections and 3,431 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, according to the WHO.