CSIR Identifies 25 Drugs For Repurposing Against Covid-19, Favipiravir Emerges As Most Promising One

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has identified the top 25 drugs/drug candidates for repurposing them for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in India.

The repurposed drugs can be quickly deployed for treatment as opposed to new drugs which need almost a decade of development.

“CSIR has identified the top 25 drugs/drug candidates for repurposing. Among these top 25 drugs, Favipiravir a broad-spectrum inhibitor of viral RNA polymerase has emerged as of one of the most promising drugs,” the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a release.

Favipiravir was developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Ltd, and is an approved treatment for common influenza and is marketed in Russia, China and Japan, it added.

“CSIR-IICT, based in Hyderabad has developed a convenient and cost-effective synthetic process for Favipiravir.  As a collaborative effort with industry, CSIR-IICT transferred the entire process and significant quantities of pharma grade API of Favipiravir to Cipla a leading pharmaceutical company,” the release said.

Cipla will be conducting the investigations prior to launching on this drug against Covid-19 in India. For this purpose, the company has approached the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for approval to launch Favipiravir in India.

Favipiravir is a generic drug and already being used for the treatment of influenza and also is in clinical trials for Covid-19 in many countries such as in China, Japan and Italy.

“Under the auspices of ICMR, Cipla will conduct a suitable limited trial prior to marketing the product  as Ciplenza,” the release added.