ArticleThe Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia2023
Effectiveness of Favipiravir monotherapy in the treatment of COVID-19: real world data analysis from Thailand.
Article in The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the clinical effects ofFrontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Favipiravir treatment in Thai children with COVID-19: effectiveness, safety, and modeling drug exposure.Asian biomedicine : research, reviews and news · 2026Article
- Observational
- Remdesivir versus Favipiravir in Hospitalized Patients with Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Propensity Score-Matched Retrospective Cohort Study.International journal of general medicine · 2024Article
- Favipiravir and hyperuricemia in patients with COVID-19-suggestions for future studies.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2023Article
- COVID-19: An Update on Epidemiology, Prevention and Treatment, September-2023.Infectious diseases & clinical microbiology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Previous studies showed that Favipiravir, a selective viral ribonucleic acid dependent-ribonucleic acid polymerase inhibitor, exhibited a trend of clinical improvement within 14 days and promoted viral clearance by day 7, without reduction of mortality rate in COVID-19. Methods: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Department of Medical Services (Thailand) formulated National Clinical Treatment Guidelines for COVID-19 and approved Favipiravir to eight medical centres. After treatment with Favipiravir monotherapy, we compared real-world data analysis to supportive treatment without antiviral agents. Findings: We analysed 12,888 COVID-19 patients between June 1, 2021, and July 31, 2021. This group study excluded 66 asymptomatic and 4634 COVID-19 patients treated with other antiviral agents. The 4896 mild, 2357 moderate, and 935 severe COVID-19 patients were analysed. All patients neither had previous SARS-CoV-2 infection nor received an mRNA vaccine during study period. Favipiravir monotherapy reduced the 28-day mortality risk in severe COVID-19 by relative risk (RR) = 0.72 (95% CI 0.58-0.91 P = 0.006) after adjustment for aging and hypertension. However, in mild and moderate COVID-19, Favipiravir monotherapy did not significantly reduce 28-day mortality risk by RR = 0.59 (95% CI 0.06-5.43 P = 0.65) after adjustment for aging, and RR = 0.60 (95% CI 0.32-1.13 P = 0.11) after adjustment for aging and obesity, respectively. In the patient with recovery, Favipiravir monotherapy exhibited a shortening time to recovery when compared to supportive treatment without antiviral agents (mean ± SD by 9.6 ± 7.1 vs. 12.9 ± 7.6 days: P < 0.0001, 10.0 ± 5.9 vs. 12.4 ± 5.3 days: P < 0.0001, and 11.2 ± 7.8 vs. 13.1 ± 8.0 days: P < 0.0001 in mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19 respectively). Interpretation: Real-world data analysis showed that favipiravir monotherapy was superior to supportive treatment without antiviral agents in shortening the recovery time in surviving patients and significantly reducing 28-day mortality risk in severe COVID-19. Funding: Department of Medical Services, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand.
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