By KANAKO TANAKA/ Staff Writer
February 25, 2022 at 16:50 JST
Oral COVID-19 pills developed by Shionogi & Co. (Provided by Shionogi & Co.)
Shionogi & Co. announced on Feb. 25 that it had applied for health ministry approval for manufacturing and selling its oral COVID-19 pill, which could greatly boost the supply of oral medications in Japan.
If approved, it will be the third oral treatment designated for COVID-19 patients in Japan with mild symptoms.
Also, because it will be the first oral COVID-19 drug manufactured by a domestic pharmaceutical company, it is expected to lead to a stable provision of pills to COVID-19 patients in Japan.
The company started clinical trial of the pills on around 2,000 people in fall 2021, which it now says is complete on around 500 of the subjects.
The Japanese medical giant is calling on the ministry to grant the drug “conditional early approval,” which authorizes the use of medicines even if all clinical trials have not been completed.
The results of clinical trials of the pills on 69 people that the company published in early February showed that the tablets are effective in reducing the virus level in a patient and alleviating COVID-19 symptoms.
COVID-19 patients are advised to take one tablet of the Shionogi pill daily for five days. The company has already started manufacturing the drugs.
It plans to supply enough tablets for 1 million patients by March, before boosting production for 10 million people per year.
The government has approved oral COVID-19 pills by Pfizer and Merck, both U.S. companies. However, they are only prescribed for COVID-19 patients at risk of developing serious symptoms as the supply of both drugs is limited.
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