Govt asks drug makers to ramp up remdesivir production to full capacity

The government on Wednesday said that all seven manufacturers of remdesivir in the country have been asked to ramp up production to full capacity by next week.

The direction comes against reports of shortages of the critical drug.

Remdesivir is considered as a key antiviral drug in the fight against COVID-19, especially in adult patients with severe complications.

"There are seven players who produce remdesivir. I have asked all players to ramp up production to full capacity by next week. The drug's API is manufactured in India so there won't be a problem," Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers, told PTI.

Mandaviya said these seven manufacturers - Mylan, Hetero, JubiliantLife Sciences, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Zydus Cadila and Sun Pharma - have a monthly production capacity of 31.60 lakh vials.

Letters have been despatched to all these drugmakers to ramp up production, he added.

Of the 31.60 lakh vials, Hetero produces 10.50 lakh vials a month, Cipla makes 6.20 lakh vials, 5 lakh vials are produced by Zydus Cadila and 4 lakh vials are produced by Mylan, Mandaviya said.

The remaining drugmakers produce vials in the range of 1 lakh and 2.5 lakh a month, he added.

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to procure Remdesivir injections so that they could be provided free of cost for the treatment of critical COVID-19 patients from the economically weaker sections.