IT Correspondent
Mumbai, June 21:
“Glenmark Pharmaceuticals”, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai, has launched antiviral drug “Favipiravir” under the brand name “FabiFlu”, for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.
The prescription-based drug will be available as a 200 mg tablet at an MRP of Rs.3,500 for a strip of 34 tablets, meaning one table will cost Rs. 103. It is a generic version of “Avigan” of Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, Japan. Considering a minimum of two strips per patient, Glenmark will be able to provide “FabiFlu” for about 82,500 patients in the first month itself.
The company has received the manufacturing and marketing approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
The recommended dose of “Favipiravir” of the prescription-based medicine, is 1,800 mg twice daily on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14. The drug will be available both through hospitals and the retail channel. It can be used for coronavirus patients with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes and heart disease with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms, the release issued here by Glenmark said.
It offers rapid reduction in viral load within four days and provides faster symptomatic and radiological improvement. Favipiravir has shown clinical improvement up to 88 per cent in mild to moderate COVID-19 cases. It is backed by strong clinical evidence, showing encouraging results in patients with mild to moderate Covid-19. It offers broad spectrum RNA virus coverage with clinical improvement noted in 20-90 plus age group.
Glenmark is producing the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for the drug at its Ankleshwar (Gujarat) plant, while the formulation is being manufactured at its Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) plant.
Glenn Saldanha, CMD, Glen Pharma said that DCGI’s approval to the new drug comes at a time when country’s health system is under tremendous pressure due to spiralling COVID-19 and hopefully, the “FabiFlu” will assuage this pressure and added that Glenmark will work closely with the government and medical community to make “FabiFlu” quickly accessible to patients across the country.
Remdesivir
In another development, DCGI has granted permission to two domestic pharmaceuticals companies, “Cipla” and “Hetero”, for sale of anti-viral drug “Remdesivir” for treatment of COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms. DCGI has given a nod to the companies on conditions of “restricted emergency use”. With the development, India can now begin the domestic production of anti-viral drugs which would have efficacy, stability, safety for “restricted emergency use” on COVID-19 patients.
”Cipla” and ”Hetero Labs” have already entered into non-exclusive licensing agreements with Gilead Sciences, which holds the patent for Remdesivir.
“Remdesivir” is not recommended for patients with severe renal impairment and high level of liver enzymes, pregnant and lactating women, and those below 12 years, Union Health Ministry’s document on ‘Clinical Management Protocols for COVID-19’ stated.
