Thai government to procure two million Favipiravir anti-viral tablets

[webfact]

Dr. Opas Karnkavinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department

 

Thailand’s Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) has recently entered into contract negotiations to procure one million tablets of Favipiravir, and anti-viral drug used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, and is negotiating for the purchase of another million tablets, Disease Control Department Director-General Dr. Opas Karnkavinpong said Sunday.

 

He assured that there are still about 500,000 tablets available, which is sufficient to meet the current demand of about 10,000 tablets a day.

 

Nevertheless, he said Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered the GPO to procure more Favipiravir as reserves, in case more are needed for the treatment of those infected with the virus.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-government-to-procure-two-million-favipiravir-anti-viral-tablets/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-04-19

 

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[ukrules]

I really do hope they're not wasting these mostly ineffective tablets on treating asymptomatic cases.

 

[Danderman123]

Not a lot of evidence that these pills actually work.

[faraday]

1 hour ago, Danderman123 said:

Not a lot of evidence that these pills actually work.

 Yeah but, yeah, they cheap.

 

Couple of recent papers:

 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00705-021-04956-9

 

^ only 96 patients.

 

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/favipiravir-to-be-investigated-as-a-possible-covid-19-treatment-for-at-home-recovery-in-the-principle-trial/27426

 

 

"Favipiravir is an antiviral drug that has been licenced in Japan since 2014 to treat influenza. It works by inhibiting a viral enzyme called RNA polymerase, preventing viral replication within human cells. This viral enzyme is common to several viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19."

 

 

[JimHuaHin]

And the issue of the quality of this China-made medication?

[MasterBaker]

panic mode

[TeaMonkey]

Out of all the study’s so far this only comes above Vitamin C in  effectiveness. 
 

https://c19early.com

[faraday]

What's your opinion on the use of this?

 

 @partington

 

 

[fulhamster]

4 hours ago, faraday said:

 Yeah but, yeah, they cheap.

 

 

Which seems to be the most important issue.

 

If they're cheap there's money to be made for somebody.....

[internationalism]

3 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

And the issue of the quality of this China-made medication?

it's japanese and made in japan.

yes, generics are now made in china and india. As good as the brand names, for a fraction of price.

 

china is now the world biggest pharma producer and exporter, before india. They make API, active ingredients. Importing companies just mix powders and package pills, with "made in eu" labels and 10x markup for promoting on the market.

 

the last week there were talking about ordering 500k, now about 2mln. Even if the GPO has large stock of the other antivirals, which they make themselves.

They do import favipi from the beginning of the last year. They had enough time to start production in the country, if they knew this medicine will be in big demand

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by internationalism

[mtls2005]

2 hours ago, MasterBaker said:

panic mode

 

 

fah talai jone now being touted as a "cure".

 

That's panic mode.

 

 

[raccos21]

Even we are not sure whether those vaccines available in the market now can really a cure for the symptoms, because as there are recent news in Malaysia saying that about 40 healthcare workers being tested positive even after both doses. So I don't think that these favipiravir anti-viral tablets are really helpful.

Good luck!

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-malaysia-healthcare-workers-infected-after-vaccination-14640550
 

[khunPer]

Might be better to consider the Israeli Alloctera medicine, which has good results, so far.

[samtam]

27 minutes ago, raccos21 said:

Even we are not sure whether those vaccines available in the market now can really a cure for the symptoms, because as there are recent news in Malaysia saying that about 40 healthcare workers being tested positive even after both doses. So I don't think that these favipiravir anti-viral tablets are really helpful.

Good luck!

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-malaysia-healthcare-workers-infected-after-vaccination-14640550
 

My undersanding is that any Covid vaccination brand does not prevent a recipient catching Covid, but it should mitigate the prognosis.

Edited April 19, 2021 by samtam

[Neeranam]

I have started taking Invermectin, which could help in not getting Covid. 

[BookShe]

I'm writing this, knowing that no policymakers ever read forums like this. There is NO proven treatment for this virus. NONE. They should stop wasting time and if they wanna save 2021, they should go out and get as many vaccines as possible (No Sinovac pls.). Israel (use mostly Pfizer) is clear proof that only vaccination can bring back normalcy. The vaccine is not a treatment, but a prevention tool. So hurry up Thailand before it's too late.

[Neeranam]

5 minutes ago, BookShe said:

They should stop wasting time and if they wanna save 2021, they should go out and get as many vaccines as possible (No Sinovac pls.). Israel (use mostly Pfizer) is clear proof that only vaccination can bring back normalcy. The vaccine is not a treatment, but a prevention tool.

Seems like common sense to me. Thailand is not alone in NOT buying vaccines quickly. 

Why can't the companies step up production? 

[Neeranam]

ONe thing that annoys me is all the Chinese customers that I have boasting about how they are back to normal, and actually have been for months. I suppose they have all had the vaccine. 

[BookShe]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Why can't the companies step up production? 

Actually they do. They announced new factories in France and other places. However producing more vaccines are a little more difficult than brewing more beers imho ????

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, BookShe said:

Actually they do. They announced new factories in France and other places. However producing more vaccines are a little more difficult than brewing more beers imho ????

Is it the manpower or raw materials?   

[BookShe]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

ONe thing that annoys me is all the Chinese customers that I have boasting about how they are back to normal, and actually have been for months. I suppose they have all had the vaccine. 

China was using lockdowns in a way no other countries would dare to use. Welding entrance doors in condo complexes, etc. I don't have their stats on vaccinated people, but they are far from being completely vaccinated.

[BookShe]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Is it the manpower or raw materials?   

Redundant Quality control mostly.

[BookShe]

There is a great article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-mrna-kariko.html

"Chinese scientists posted the genetic sequence of the virus ravaging Wuhan in January 2020, and researchers everywhere went to work. BioNTech designed its mRNA vaccine in hours; Moderna designed its in two days."

Sanjay Gupta made a short video visiting the Pfizer facility. The bigges challange was to make this vaccine  (made in hours!!!!!!!) to scale up.

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by BookShe

[Neeranam]

15 minutes ago, BookShe said:

Redundant Quality control mostly.

Actually, I forgot, I know an Israeli guy who works in logistics for a vaccine company. He'd know the reason!

[faraday]

@BookShe

 

It's behind a paywall, are you able to change that please?

 

 

[BookShe]

2 minutes ago, faraday said:

@BookShe

 

It's behind a paywall, are you able to change that please?

 

 

Sorry I'm not sure I understand. 

[faraday]

4 minutes ago, BookShe said:

Sorry I'm not sure I understand. 

 The article from the NYT which you linked above, is only available for subscribers.

 

 

[BookShe]

1 minute ago, faraday said:

 The article from the NYT which you linked above, is only available for subscribers.

 

 

Interesting ????. I just clicked on the link and it opened up. Also copied the link and pasted in a different browser and it opened up too. I'm not a subscriber to NYpost.

[BookShe]

18 minutes ago, faraday said:

@BookShe

 

It's behind a paywall, are you able to change that please?

 

 

Wait. Maybe it's loading for me from cache. I just saved to a file.

Kati Kariko Helped Shield the World From the Coronavirus - The New York Times.html

[Cake Monster]

The Gov,t have to try and do something with no Vaccines in sight, and the chances of procuring Vaccines from Russia and the USA very slim.

I suppose these tablets are better than nothing, but not much