Fujifilm Corporation has expanded its manufacturing capacity at Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd. to significantly increase production of its influenza antiviral drug Avigan Tablet (favipiravir) for treating patients with COVID-19.
 
To further boost the supply of Avigan, Fujifilm is allocating additional capacity at its Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical Co., Ltd. facility in Japan, for production of pharmaceutical intermediates used to manufacture Avigan. In addition, Fujifilm has established strategic partnerships with domestic and overseas companies for various manufacturing processes to source raw materials and pharmaceutical substances.
 
Fujifilm expects to progressively increase the monthly production of Avigan up to 100,000 treatment courses by July 2020, approximately 2.5 times more compared to the beginning of March, when the company first began its current production run. In addition, Fujifilm plans to further accelerate production up to 300,000 treatment courses by September 2020.
 
The Japanese government plans to stockpile two million treatment courses of Avigan, as part of the Japanese government’s emergency economic package announced on April 7. Fujifilm continues to respond to requests from the Japanese government, and will also engage with other countries after consultation with Japanese government.
 
Avigan, approved in Japan for manufacture and sale as an influenza antiviral drug, selectively inhibits viral RNA polymerase necessary for influenza virus replication. Due to this mechanism of action, Avigan may have an antiviral effect on the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, because like influenza viruses, coronaviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses that also depend on viral RNA polymerase. 
 
For the purpose of determining Avigan’s safety and efficacy to treat COVID-19, Avigan, as an investigational product, is being administered in clinical studies to COVID-19 patients.