Strides Pharma to conduct trials in India for potential COVID-19 drug

The Bengaluru-based firm has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India to conduct human studies of favipiravir in the country, a Strides executive said on a post-earnings conference call. Favipiravir is made under the brand name Avigan by a unit of Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp and was approved for use as an anti-flu drug in the country in 2014. It was recently reported that so far there has been no clear evidence of efficacy for Avigan in treating the novel coronavirus in some clinical trials.

There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, with governments, drugmakers and researchers working on several treatment and vaccine programmes.

Strides will do a bioequivalence study to compare the safety and efficacy of its drug with Avigan, a spokesman said in an emailed statement.