From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Apr 17: The production capacity of Remdesivir injection vials, which are used in the treatment of Covid patients, has been doubled after the government’s intervention and also resulted in a big fall in price by different companies.
According to Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda, who is also handling the Union Pharmaceutical Ministry, the Cadilla pharmaceutical company has slashed the price of the Remdesivir injection vials with Remdek brand from Rs 2,800 to Rs 899 while the other pharmaceutical companies have also announced big reduction in the prices of their brands of drugs.
The prices of the similar drug by other pharmaceutical companies are as follows with earlier prices in rupees in brackets: Dr Reddys – Redix 2,700 (5400); Biocon – Remdin 2450 (3950); Cipla – Cipremi 3,000 (4,000); Milan – Drecem 3,400 (4,800); Jubilant Generics – Jubi-R 3,400 (4,700) and Hethero Healthcare – Covifor 3,490 (5,400).
The Union Minister, who announced the slashing of prices of the Remdesivir brand of injections by different companies, has thanked the pharmaceutical companies for their decision to bring down the prices substantially.
The reduction in prices of the Remdesivir injection vials will lead to a cumulative saving of at least Rs 750 crore for the people using the drug, Sadananda Gowda said.
He also said the Centre’s efforts have resulted in increasing the production capacity of the Remdesivir injections by the pharmaceutical companies.
The Minister pointed out that the US-based Gilead Sciences Company holds the patent for the Remdesivir injections and as many as seven pharmaceutical companies have obtained the production licences with total installed capacity of producing 38.8 lakh vials of the injections per month.
The seven pharmaceutical companies have been sanctioned permission for producing additional 35.3 lakh vials of the injections. This will result in increasing the monthly production capacity to 74.1 lakh vials.
The Minister said the government’s decision to grant permission for increasing the production capacity would result in a daily production of 1.35 lakh vials of Remdesivir injections. The decision to ban export of Remdesivir would ensure that the total daily availability of the injections would be around 4 lakh vials for use across the country.
The steps taken by the government would help in balancing the demand and supply position of the Remdesivir injection vials within a week, Sadananda Gowda added.