The Philippine government started a nine-month Avigan clinical trial Monday in four hospitals with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.

In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said:''We started already today in four hospitals. The Philippine General Hospital, Sta Ana Hospital, Jose N Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, and Quirino Memorial Medical Center."

"We started with the four but we will, of course, expand to other hospitals for us to be able to reach the 100 patients," she added.

Vergeire said the clinical trial will run for at least nine months.

"We will start now and submit the results after nine months whatever findings we will have by then," said Vergeire.

Avigan (favipiravir) is an anti-viral drug used to treat influenza in Japan. It is being studied as a potential treatment for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). DMS