BANGKOK, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) said in a press briefing on Tuesday that it is currently stockpiling about 400,000 doses of anti-viral drug Favipiravir, in case a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak erupts.
The GPO had previously imported 187,000 tablets of Favipiravir from foreign countries, and 100,000 have been delivered to hospitals nationwide, and the GPO will keep 87,000 as a reserve, said Nuntakan Suwanpidokkul, director of the GPO's Research and Development Institute.
Nuntakan said that another batch of 303,860 Favipiravir tablets will arrive in Thailand, enough to treat new patients in case a second wave of outbreak occurs.
"Each COVID-19 patient requires up to 70 tablets of Favipiravir," said Nuntakan, adding that "we are also looking into producing local anti-viral tablets to reduce reliance on imports. Since Favipiravir tablets are used worldwide during the pandemic, it is not easy to get access to them."
She said there are several Thai pharmaceutical companies doing research on anti-viral tablets.
"However, it will take another year or so to perform clinical tests and register the drug. So, the domestic version of Favipiravir should be ready for public use by 2022, at the earliest," Nuntakan said.
Currently, the GPO is working in collaboration with Thailand's National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) on research into ways to synthesize raw materials to manufacture Favipiravir.
"The research is showing promising results and should be completed within three to six months. We are also looking into using local raw materials to reduce the cost of producing the anti viral drugs," said Nuntakan. Enditem
