Beximco partners on making potential COVID-19 therapy favipiravir

Generics drugmaker Beximco (AIM: BXP) says its pharmaceutical division and fellow Bangladesh-based Beacon Pharmaceuticals have developed favipiravir, an antiviral drug that is being used by China to treat COVID-19 patients.

The production of this antiviral drug by the two companies comes in the wake of rising number of positive novel coronavirus cases in Bangladesh, which stood at 123 at the time of writing.

Favipiravir was originally developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical as Avigan to treat influenza, which was later found in Chinese clinical testing to be effective against COVID-19. Fujifilm has recently announced plans to ramp up production.

Although the drug is patented in Japan, Bangladesh could market and produce favipiravir until 2033 under the relaxed guidelines of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and potentially help curtail the exponential growth of COVID-19 cases in the country.