Amid Covid surge, govt approves stepping up of production of Remdesivir

Govt aims to ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing of the drug to around 7.8 million vials per month

In order to curb the coronavirus surge in the country, Central government on Friday approved ramping up of production of the drug Remdesivir, used to treat Covid-19, which includes diverting 400,000 vials meant for export for domestic use. 

"The issue of availability of Remdesivir was reviewed by Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, in meetings with the all-existing manufacturers of the Remdesivir drug and other stakeholders, where decisions have been taken to increase production/supply and reduce prices of Remdesivir," said Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in a statement.

The current total installed capacity of the seven manufacturers of Remdesivir is 3.88 million vials per month. Fast-track approval has been given for seven additional sites having the production capacity of 1 million vials per month to six manufacturers. Another 3 million vials per month production is lined up. This would ramp up the production capacity for manufacturing to around 7.8 million vials per month.

As an additional measure, Remdesivir, API and formulation were placed under export ban on April 11 by DGFT to increase the supply of Remdesivir in the domestic market. On government intervention, Remdesivir supplies of approximately 4 lakh vials meant for export are being diverted by manufacturers to fulfil domestic requirement. EOU/SEZ units are also being enabled to supply to the domestic market.

"Manufacturers of Remdesivir have volunteered to reduce the price to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week, to support the efforts of  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to fight against Covid," said government.

"Manufacturers of Remdesivir have been directed to give priority to fulfil hospital/institutional level supplies. 

Enforcement authorities of states and Central Government have been directed by DCGI to take immediate action on incidence of black-marketing, hoarding and overcharging of Remdesivir," said government.

Seven Indian companies produce Remdesivir under voluntary licensing agreements with Gilead Sciences Inc. They have an installed capacity of about 3.9 million units per month.