Favipiravir, Antiviral Used Against Covid-19 in China and Japan, Ready to be Developed in India: CSIR

The end-to-end synthesis of Favipiravir, an anti-retroviral drug that has shown promise against Covid-19, has been completed, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), said .

Dr Shekhar C Mande, Director General of CSIR, said the synthesis process has been handed over to a private pharmaceutical company and the Drug Controller General of India will now take a call on introducing the drug for testing as Covid-19 treatment.

Favipiravir has demonstrated good results against influenza viruses and is being tested in other countries as a potential treatment against the novel coronavirus, including in China, Japan, Russia and the Middle East.

Dr Mande said the premier research and development organisation, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, is working on repurposing 20 different drugs that could be used as a line of treatment against Covid-19, diagnostic kits, innovation in medical equipment and even vaccine development.

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