Monday, June 22, 2020

Hetero’s injectable ‘Covifor’ gets DCGI approval for COVID-19 Treatment


For the treatment of COVID-19 positive cases, on 21st June 2020, Hyderabad based pharmaceutical company -Hetero Drugs has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India (a department under- CDSCO: Central Drugs Standard Control Organization) for manufacturing and marketing of antiviral drug Remdesivir.

Brandname for Marketing

  • Under the brand name ‘Covifor’, Hetero Pharmaceuticals’ generic version of Remdesivir will be marketed in India.
  • The drug is manufactured at the Hetero company’s Hyderabad facility, while its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) is being developed at Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.

Remdesivir

  • The antiviral drug ‘Remdesivir’ is administered via injection into a vein. 
  • This antiviral medication was developed by the United States biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences for treatment of Hepatitis C.
  • United Kingdom, Singapore, and Japan are the countries where the drug has been approved to date for the treatment of COVID-19 cases.

Price and Availability

  • As it is an injectable drug,  it has to be administered under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner and will not be available through any retail channel. 
  • The drug will be made available for hospitals and government healthcare agencies. 
  • It will be available in a 100mg injectable dose. 
  • The price will be in the range of Rs 5,000 to 6,000 per dose.
  • Hetero has targeted to manufacture one lakh doses of it in the upcoming weeks, the company has stated that production can be increased based on the demand.
  • Covifor will be used for the treatment of confirmed COVID-19 cases for those who have severe symptoms of the disease.

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