AlQa'dah 6, 1435, Sep 1, 2014, SPA -- Nigeria was set to receive the antiviral drugFavipiravir from Japan as a possible Ebola treatment, the Health Ministry said Monday according to dpa. Favipiravir, developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Fujifilm Holdings Corp, was available for immediate delivery, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said during an emergency meeting in the capital, Abuja. The drug was approved to treat the flu by the Japanese health ministry in March. Fujifilm Holdings is in talks with the US Food and Drug Administration to begin clinical testing of Favipiravir as an Ebola treatment. "It is shown to have strong antiviral property against the Ebola virus" in the lab and in patients, the minister said as the Ebola outbreak continues to accelerate in West Africa with the death toll now estimated at 1,552, according to the World Health Organization(WHO). The Geneva-based WHO said 3,069 suspected or confirmed cases had been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
