COVID-19 Drug: Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Thursday said it has launched Remdesivir under the brand name Remdac, used to treat patients suffering from severe symptoms of COVID-19, in the Indian market.
Priced at ₹ 2,800 per 100 mg vial, Remdac is the most economical Remdesivir brand in India, Zydus Cadila said in a regulatory filing.
The company said the drug will be made available across India through the group’s strong distribution chain reaching out to government and private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.
“Remdac is the most affordable drug as we would like to enable patients to have access to this critical drug in the treatment of COVID-19,” Cadila Healthcare Managing Director Dr Sharvil Patel said.
Through the course of this pandemic, the company’s efforts have been focused on supporting people in this healthcare crisis, whether it is through developing vaccines, ramping up production and distribution of critical drugs and therapies, making diagnostic tests available or exploring new treatment options, Mr Patel added.
In June this year, Zydus had entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc to manufacture and sell Remdesivir, the investigational drug, which has been issued an emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to treat patients suffering from severe symptoms of COVID-19.
The API for the drug has been developed and manufactured at the group’s API manufacturing facilities in Gujarat.
Zydus is the fifth company to launch a copy of the antiviral in India after privately held Hetero Labs Ltd, Cipla, Mylan NV and Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd.
The group’s plasmid DNA vaccine ZyCov-D is now in Phase II of the Adaptive Phase I&II clinical trials.
Gilead has also entered into licensing agreements with Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Syngene International Ltd to make remdesivir for distribution in 127 countries, including India.
Zydus Cadila’s vaccine candidate ZyCov-D is now in phase II of the clinical trials.
Shares of Cadila Healthcare, the listed entity of the group, were trading at ₹ 387 apiece on BSE, 0.44 per cent higher against their previous close.
The COVID-19 tally rises to 23,96,638 including 6,53,622 active cases, 16,95,982 discharged & 47,033 deaths in India.
