Thailand racing to stockpile Favipiravir ahead of possible second Covid-19 outbreak

Nuntakan Suwanpidokkul, director of the GPO’s Research and Development Institute. - The Naton/ANN

BANGKOK (The Nation/ANN): the government is stockpiling almost 400,000 doses of Favipiravir – an antiviral drug touted as a treatment for Covid-19 – in case of a second-wave outbreak while pushing domestic manufacture to reduce reliance on imports.

“The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation [GPO] has imported 187,000 tablets of Favipiravir from Japan and China – 100,000 have been delivered to hospitals nationwide while the GPO has stored 87,000 as a reserve, said Nuntakan Suwanpidokkul, director of the GPO’s Research and Development Institute, on Tuesday (May 19).