Favipiravir India’s Number One Selling Drug in April as the Antiviral Medicine Used Heavily
Now a generic antiviral drug initially targeting influenza in Japan,
the original maker of the product, FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd. calls the drug Avigan.
Sales of a version of this generic drug have skyrocketed in India.
TrialSite followed with interest how this drug was accepted at least on an emergency basis or acceptable off label,
in dozens of countries around the world, including Russia, India, and China.
It was Russia that first authorized a version of the drug for COVID-19.
In Canada, a group of organizations have jointly filed a marketing authorization submission with Health Canada for a favipiravir-based therapy targeting early onset, mild COVID-19.
That application,
led by Indian generic firm Dr. Reddy’s in partnership with Appili Therapeutics,occurred in late December 2020, and thus far, there hasn’t been any public response.
Interestingly,
as TrialSite has reported,favipiravir has gained little attention as major media focuses first and foremost on vaccines and secondly on branded, advanced pharmaceutical-based novel therapeutics, such as monoclonal antibodies.
In India, several firms
were given authorization to develop their own versions, including Fabiflu developed by Glenmark Pharmaceutical.
Indian media reports that
Fabiflu moved to the top of the top-selling drugs in India due to the pandemic.
Now there are several versions of favipiravir, yet thanks to Glenmark’s marketing and positioning
and the fact that they were first to market, and, of course, pandemic-based demand, the company generated about $52.8 million in favipiravir sales in April alone.
Blockbuster status for India,
Fabiflu overtook diabetes and other lifestyle drugs that traditionally lead the sales numbers, reports the Times of India.In Japan, where the drug was developed, regulators still haven’t authorized it as they declared more data was necessary.