Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/02/2020
By: Han Ting-ting and Ko Lin

Taipei, March 2 (CNA) Taiwan's non-profit Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB) announced Monday that it has synthesized favilavir, an experimental medication being used in other countries as an investigational therapy to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The center will work closely with local biopharmaceutical companies certified for current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) to provide enough favilavir for patient care in Taiwan, the DCB said.

According to Chuang Shih-hsien (莊士賢), an executive with the DCB, the anti-viral drug was first developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co. and approved for the Japanese market in March 2014.

The medicine was widely used to treat patients who showed resistance to Tamiflu and Relenza, both of which are medications used to treat and prevent influenza caused by influenza A and B viruses, Chuang said.   [FULL  STORY]