On Mar. 31, 2020, FUJIFILM announced initiation of a phase III clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of influenza antiviral drug ‘Avigan Tablet’ (generic name: favipiravir) in Japan for patients of COVID-19, a respiratory infection caused by the novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

Avigan, approved for manufacture and sale as an influenza antiviral drug in Japan, has a mechanism of action for selectively inhibiting RNA polymerase involved in influenza viral replication. Due to this mechanism, it was expected that Avigan may potentially have an antiviral effect on the new coronavirus as it is classified into the same type of single-stranded RNA virus as influenza, and its clinical application to treat COVID-19 is now under study.