Covid drug Favipiravir hits market; 100 new cases in HP in 3 days

SHIMLA: Baddi based Pharmaceuticals –Glenmark has become first to launch a novel antiviral drug Favipiravir, to be sold under brand name Fabiflu.

The company says the drug has been made available for treatment of patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 and will be priced at Rs 103 per tablet. “The drug will be available as a 200 mg tablet at a maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 3,500 for a strip of 34 tablets,” said Anurag Khera, Sr Vicepresident (Corporate Communication) at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

Glenmark Pharma has received the manufacturing and marketing permission under the accelerated approval route (emergency use authorisation) from Drugs Controller General (India) ( DCGI) for

FAVIPIRAVIR. The drug is the first oral antiviral tablet to be approved in this time of pandemic to any company in India. Right now, the company is supplying the drug to COVID hotspots like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gujarat but Khera says “the company has capacity to meet the demand of all the states in India. We are working in all three shifts .It's for the nation's cause under make in India campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

State's Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said “it's really a matter of great pride that the first COVID drug in India has been manufactured in Himachal Pradesh. I hope the drug meets at parameters for treatment of the Coronavirus patients and proves effective. It's also a big ray of hope for us.” Navneet Marwah, state Drug Controller says “Glenmark

Pharmaceuticals have really worked hard to be the first. It's a matter of pride for Himachal Pradesh, a small state with Asia's biggest concentration of the pharma companies. The state Licencing Authority has already granted its approval to the company to manufacture and market this first oral favipiravir, Fabiflu. I hope some other companies will follow the suit.”

Asked how the company managed to manufacture the drug, Khera said “the work on the drug started immediately after the lockdown. The state government helped us to resume the production and transport Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) from Ankleshwar plant (Gujarat) and bring the labour and other man-power. There were initial problems but now things are working absolutely as par plans.”