Favipiravir, is it worth the hype? As we all know glenmark has launched the much awaited antiviral favipiravir for mild and moderate covid 19 infection. As an expert I would like to ask the following before prescribing: Do we have enough data currently to routinely use it? Will it shorten the recovery time? Will it reduce the chances of going on a ventilator? Will it prevent deaths? Is it cost effective? What are the adverse events? Currently there are 2 trials, one from Egypt with 100 patients and other one from Iran. These trials are ongoing and detailed results are awaited. Glenmark has 2 trials in progress in India. One with favipiravir as monotherapy and other with favipiravir + umnefovir. Results are expected in due course of time. Hence I deduce that currently do not have definitive answers to the above questions . There are other issues too. The pill load is too high for the patient compliance. Day 1 patient takes total 18 pills. Day 2 to 10 he has to take 8 pills daily. Plus he has to take other medicines too. Imagine taking so many pills daily. The cost involved in treatment is also too high. Each pill costs rs 103. So total cost for 10 days treatment will be approx inr 10, 000. Imagine spending such a huge amount for mild to moderate disease. The trials are focusing on mild to moderate covid 19 cases only. What about the seriously ill patients in the ICU? I hope glenmark shares the clinical trial data soon so that we can prescribe favipiravir with full confidence. Dr Hardik Thakker, MD MED, ECFMG (USA).