Avigan Effective in Tackling Coronavirus

"Japan is considering using Avigan, an anti-influenza medication developed by a unit of Fujifilm Holdings Corp., to treat patients of the novel coronavirus, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Saturday.

“We will do everything we can,” Kato said on a TV program, noting that there is no established treatment for COVID-19 yet. The drug is also known as Favipiravir."

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/22/national/scienc...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favipiravir

Smells fishy to me. Also too bad Japan is hardly testing, the article said it’s useless once it’s multiplied, so I guess it’s not going to do much unless it’s used early ?