Urian Tech 05.26.2020 06:May AM EDT

Fujifilm Continues Research on Avigan as COVID-19 Drug into June: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Optimistic

In June 2020, Instax film company Fujifilm will be pursuing its research on the medicinal drug Avigan. Fujifilm recently developed a medicinal drug called Avigan. The Avigan drug has initially been a treatment for influenza. However, certain properties within the tablet have made it a potential candidate for a COVID-19 virus treatment.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's current Prime Minister, has high hopes for the research on the Avigan drug for treatment on the now global pandemic COVID-19. Moreover, the Japanese government will be approving the Avigan drug to be a treatment for COVID-19 once everything has been settled in the research laboratories.

According to Reuters, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, has stated in a briefing that as FujiFilm continues with its research on the medicinal drug in the next month, the government will prepare a thorough review on the efficiency of the Avigan drug.

COVID-19 drug trials

Test trials using the Avigan drug as a medicinal drug for the COVID-19 virus is said to commence in July. Despite the faith the people mentioned above have on the Avigan drug, Kyodo News stated that a study revealed that there is still no legitimate evidence that the Avigan drug is effective against the COVID-19 virus.

Fujifilm will be in correspondence with the government about the development of the Avigan drug and are currently working hard to get the application for the new drugs approved.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic happening right now, clinical trials for vaccines against the COVID-19 virus are underway all over the world and Japan is one of the countries attesting to this circumstance.

Fujifilm: A Short Biography

Over the years, people have heard of the famous photographic film company Fujifilm. Fujifilm has been around for 86 years since January 1934.

Although it was known for its photographic films and cameras, Fujifilm has expanded to other fields besides photography. In April 2006, Fujifilm built its own research laboratories and called them "FUJIFILM Advanced Research Laboratories." From there, Fujifilm has enhanced and developed its research laboratories.

Fujifilm's research laboratories are segmented into five different laboratories: the Frontier Core-Technology Laboratories (creation of technology that will transform the future), the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Laboratories (production of organic materials), the Advanced Marking Research Laboratories (innovating printing technology), the Life Science Research Laboratories, and the Regenerative Medicine Research Laboratories (discovering new findings in life science and pharmaceutical medicine).

Despite it being primarily a corporation specializing in film and photography, their research laboratories have contributed to the research and development industry, the Avigan drug being one of those contributions.

The year 2006 was the start of Fujifilm's expansion to the scientific fields of medicine and life science. In June 2009, Fujifilm built research laboratories made for drug discovery. In terms of the recent events that have transpired because of the global pandemic COVID-19, Fujifilm has been working on the Avigan drug (scientific name: Favipiravir) to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, as mentioned above.