Shionogi & Co. plans to start supplying an oral medication it is developing to treat COVID-19 within fiscal 2021, the pharmaceutical company revealed Wednesday.
Shionogi intends to begin manufacturing the drug by the end of this year, and to build a supply system large enough to reach 1 million people.
Isao Teshirogi, the president and chief executive officer of the company, showed his enthusiasm to start distributing the drug this fiscal year at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday. "If we can supply a safe oral drug from around next January to March, then [handling the novel coronavirus] will be completely different," Teshirogi said.
Shionogi is developing an oral drug for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms that is aimed at curbing viral propagation inside the body.
The company began the first clinical test to check the drug's safety in July. The second and third phases began simultaneously on Monday, on about 2,000 people. So far there have been no major problems regarding the safety of the medication, according to the company.
Shionogi is planning to start clinical tests on the drug overseas as well, and hopes to obtain special approval for emergency use of an unauthorized drug in the United States and other countries.
Currently, only two COVID-19 drugs, both administered intravenously, have been authorized in Japan --the antibody cocktail Ronapreve of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. and Xevudy (generic name sotrovimab) from GlaxoSmithKline PLC of Britain.
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