Coronavirus: Japan races to approve drugs as backlash against pandemic response intensifies

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is following the US in speeding up the approval of still unproven virus drugs, as he faces new criticism over his plan for exiting a state of emergency and reviving Japan’s economy.Japanese regulators – which usually take a year for drug approvals – authorised the use of Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir just three days after receiving the application. Abe has also said that Fujifilm’s rival antiviral drug Avigan, a treatment he has long cited in public…

from South China Morning Post https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3083931/coronavirus-japan-races-approve-drugs-backlash-against-pandemic