The government has decided to postpone approving Fujifilm Holdings Corp.'s Avigan drug for the treatment of COVID-19 until June or later, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Tuesday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said earlier this month he hoped the drug, known generically as favipiravir, would be approved some time in May if its efficacy and safety could be confirmed.
But Kato told a news conference Tuesday that clinical tests on the drug would continue into next month or beyond, while noting that there was no change in the government's policy of approving the drug swiftly once its effectiveness is confirmed.