Thailand’s efficacy tests on Favipiravir cannot be compared with those done in the Americas – Medical Services Department

[snoop1130]

Image Credit: Government Pharmaceutical Organisation

 

Efficacy tests on the Favipiravir anti-viral drug in the treatment of COVID-19 patients conducted in Thailand cannot be compared with the tests undertaken in the Americas, because of the different methodology used in the tests, according to Dr. Somsak Akksilp, director-general of Thailand’s Medical Services Department.

 

Dr. Somsak’s statement was in response to a recent claim, referring to efficacy tests conducted in the US, Mexico and Brazil, that Favipiravir is not effective in treating COVID-19.

 

He said that the efficacy tests in the Americas were on 1,187 samples, 70% which were from obese people and 15% from the elderly.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-efficacy-tests-on-favipiravir-cannot-be-compared-with-those-done-in-the-americas-medical-services-department/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-09-12

 

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[Peabody]

Oops. Seems he missed some studies.

"As of the 12th October 2020, there are 37 studies registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database to evaluate the utility of this repurposed drug to fight against COVID-19¹⁶."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8747778/

 

[rwill]

Looking at the bottle in the photo it looks like this was made in Thailand.  So it must be better.

[RichardColeman]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He said that the efficacy tests in the Americas were on 1,187 samples, 70% which were from obese people and 15% from the elderly.

Sounds about right to me - 85% of deaths in USA were probably down to the USA extreme obesity levels and old people 

[Dogmatix]

The DMS faulted the trial in the US, Mexico and Brazil and cited in its place a trial done in Thailand with a laughably small smaple of 93 patients. 

 

It is impossible to find any evidence online of any trials that proved its efficacy apart from this Thai study.  Favi has also been widely used in India and other third world countries due to its low production cost and the "better than nothing" approach of doctors but none have proved its efficacy.  Most, if not all of the drug used for COVID may have been produced illegally, since the copyright owner, Fujifilm, has announced it would not market it is as a COVID treatment due to inconclusive trials. https://www.fujifilm.com/fftc/en/avigan 

 

Lots of the stuff has been first imported from China and then made in Thailand and given to Thai patients for reasons that remain unclear.  Of course it is possible that it is mildly effective against COVID, despite the lack of evidence, and that it does no harm.  I hope it is the case as my family was given it for COVID and were convinced that it must be effective, if govenment doctors said so.  It is or was available from govenment clinics just on production of an ID card and a statement that the ID holder had tested positive. Motor cycle taxis could pick it up.  The option was Green Chiretta for which there is also no evidence of efficacy.

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Dogmatix