Fujifilm signs influenza drug licensing deal

Japan-based Fujifilm has signed a patent licensing agreement with a Chinese company centring on an ingredient used in its anti-influenza drug Avigan.

The deal, signed with China-based pharmaceutical company Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical yesterday, June 21, gives the Chinese company a licence to develop, manufacture and market anti-influenza drugs in China that contain the favipiravir ingredient.

Fujifilm, better known for photography and imaging but which also makes drugs, will receive a lump-sum payment and royalties once a drug is successfully introduced to the market.

According to Fujifilm, the need to develop new drugs for treating influenza has come after mounting concerns that avian influenza viruses could mutate into a new type of virus capable of human-to-human transmission.