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Bloomberg
Japan was set to approve on Thursday the antiviral drug remdesivir for use against the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, without giving details.
The relatively quick move by Japan’s usually conservative authorities is expected days after the US authorised Gilead Sciences Inc’s drug for emergency use on virus patients. Abe did not indicate in an interview earlier whether the treatment will be approved for emergency, or general use.
Finding a treatment for Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, could move the world closer to easing lockdown measures put in place to help slow its spread. One early analysis showed that about two-thirds of severe Covid-19 cases improved when treated with the drug, according to a report published in April.
Multiple trials of remdesivir are still under way. In April, the World Health Organization prematurely published results of a China trial by accident but retracted it soon after. The WHO post indicated that the drug didn’t show benefits in preventing death and reducing virus load, but the Chinese trial was halted early after researchers struggled to enroll patients.
While the virus has so far wreaked less health damage in Japan than the US, the economy has taken a severe hit.