COVID-19: Japan to approve drug for treatment on Thursday

Japan has said it will approve the antiviral drug, Remdesivir, to treat coronavirus patients on Thursday.

The country also said it might approve another medication, Avigan, later this month.

This would make Japan the second country to approve the drug, after US regulators authorised it on Friday, for emergency use against severe cases of COVID-19.

“If there is no problem we hope to swiftly approve the drug today,” top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters.

Nigeria’s Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire, confirmed Remdevisir was already being used in treating COVID-19 patients in Nigeria.

Ehanire during a press briefing on Tuesday said “We have been using that (Remdesivir); we have tried that in Lagos too.

“So, we have tried the antiretroviral drug to see what effect it has.”