THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 28, 2020 at 18:16 JST
The National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The central government will soon approve the use of the drug remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19 in Japan, a promising development in the battle to end the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Pharmaceutical approval is expected to be possible soon” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the Lower House plenary session on April 27.
Japan, the United States and South Korea are jointly conducting clinical trials of remdesivir on 400 patients.
Remdesivir, which has a mechanism that prevents viral replication, was originally developed as a treatment for Ebola virus patients.
The drug is also reportedly effective against severe cases of pneumonia.
Although scientists and companies around the world are racing to develop a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19, the pneumonia-like disease caused by the novel coronavirus, no remedies have been confirmed effective or approved so far.
The National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward is involved in the remdesivir study.
A senior health ministry official told The Asahi Shimbun on April 27 that Japan will apply “special approval” for remdesivir if its use for novel coronavirus patients is approved overseas.
Special approval applies to drugs deemed necessary to prevent the spread of diseases that can cause serious damage to people’s health, and if the medicine is approved in countries that have safety approval systems on the same level as Japan’s.
Fewer documents are necessary for specially approved drugs, allowing for the medicine to reach patients much earlier.
Japan used this approval system for vaccines produced by British and Swiss companies when the H1N1 virus was spreading around the world in 2009 and 2010.
At the Lower House plenary session, Abe also talked about anti-influenza agent Avigan, which he repeatedly described as a possible treatment for novel coronavirus infections.
“I have received reports that the medication has been applied to more than 2,000 patients, and the drug was effective in improving their symptoms,” Abe said. “I am making great efforts to obtain pharmaceutical approval as early as possible.”
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