Dubai's healthcare provider Global Response Aid (GRA) and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (NYSE:RDY ) on Wednesday jointly announced the encouraging results from the clinical study Phase 3 blind placebo-controlled trial of the antiviral drug Avigan in a conducted in Japan.

Under the sponsorship of FujiFilm Toyama Chemical, the study involved 156 hospitalized patients with COVID-19-induced pneumonia and was divided into two groups or "arms." Patients in the first arm received Avigan. Patients in the second arm received a placebo that appeared identical to the drug. A statistically significant percentage of patients in the Avigan group had a rapid reduction in viral loads.

The companies added that the patients who received Avigan recovered from COVID-19 symptoms 2.8 days earlier, on average, compared to the control group. The analysis showed that patients were statistically more likely to recover when given Avigan compared to those who did not. The study sought to measure recovery from pneumonia and COVID-19 symptoms.

Avigan, which contains the active ingredient Favipiravir, was developed by FujiFilm Toyama Chemical as an anti-flu drug. GRA, Dr Reddy's Laboratories signed a global licensing agreement covering the production, marketing and distribution of Avigan.

In conjunction, the results from the partnership's Japan trial suggest the effectiveness of Avigan as a treatment to prevent COVID-19 patients from progressing from mild to more severe or critical phases of the disease and to accelerate recovery from COVID-19 symptoms.