CIPLA PRICES COVID-19 DRUG UNDER ~5,000
The pricing war for antiviral drug remdesivir has begun in the domestic pharmaceutical market. Two Indian drug majors — Cipla and Hetero Healthcare — have come out with the final pricing of their products. Hetero has priced the injectable drug at ~5,400 per 100 mg vial. Cipla said it would price its generic version of Gilead
Sciences Inc’s antiviral drug for use in Covid-19 patients at less than ~5,000 per vial. Each patient will need six vials for the course of treatment.
The pricing war for antiviral drug remdesivir has begun in the domestic pharmaceutical market. Two Indian drug majors — Cipla and Hetero Healthcare — have come out with the final pricing of their products.
Hetero has priced the injectable drug at ~5,400 per 100 mg vial. Cipla said it would price its generic version of Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug for use on Covid-19 patients at less than ~5,000 per vial. Each patient will need six vials for the course of treatment.
Commenting on the drug’s pricing, a spokesperson for Cipla said, “In line with our overall philosophy of driving access and affordability, the drug will be priced at less than ~5,000 per vial for 100 mg injection — among the lowest pricing for remdesivir globally.” Cipla will be selling it under the brand Cipremi. Hetero’s brand is Covifor. Sources revealed that Cipla may price the drug around ~4,000 per dose.
More drugmakers, including Jubilant Pharma, Mylan, Cadila Healthcare, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, are in line to launch this drug soon. The prices may see further erosion then. A senior government official said it is in wait-and-watch mode and has not decided to take any suo motu action on the pricing of the drug. Cipla had signed an agreement to contract the manufacture of remdesivir with BDR Pharmaceuticals International recently. BDR had transferred the formulation technology and other methods of development to Sovereign Pharma.
Hetero and Cipla received approval from the country’s drug regulator to launch the drug this weekend. Hetero said it is set to deliver the first set of 20,000 vials in two equal lots of 10,000 each, one of which will be despatched to Hyderabad, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra. The other lot will be supplied to Kolkata, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Cochin, Trivandrum, and Goa within a week’s time to meet emergency requirements.
M Srinivasa Reddy, MD, Hetero Healthcare, said: “Through Covifor, we hope to reduce the treatment time of a patient in a hospital, thereby reducing the increasing pressure on the medical infrastructure, overburdened currently due to accelerating Covid-19 infection rates. We are working closely with the government and the medical community to make Covifor quickly accessible to both public and private health care settings across the country.”
Hetero had earlier told Business Standard it is diverting some of its export stocks to the Indian market to meet local demand. Hetero has even started a toll-free helpline to support doctors and hospitals interested in procuring the drug.
The drug is available in a 100-mg injectable vial. It needs to be administered intravenously in a hospital under supervision of a registered medical practitioner. Meanwhile, Glenmark is also working towards making favipiravir available soon across the country.
Within a week, the drug will be available across the country. Sources claim Cipla’s price would lower by 30 per cent, compared to Glenmark’s. The company did not verify this.