Cheaper favipiravir brand gets nod, to enter market at Rs 59 a pill

The product comes Pune-based Brinton Pharma; Glenmark's FabiFlu is priced at Rs 73 a tablet

After Glenmark's Fabiflu, a second favipiravir (an oral antiviral drug used in Covid-19 treatment)-based formulation got approval from the drug regulator. Pune-based Brinton Pharmaceuticals claimed that it has obtained the nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to market its brand Faviton, 

Faviton would be priced at Rs 59 per tablet as against Rs 75 per tablet for FabiFlu. Faviton will be available in a strip of 10 tablets and 50 tablets in a box.

It will be available in 200 mg tablets. Brinton will also be exporting Faviton."Emerging favourable global clinical evidence suggests Favipiravir is an effective treatment option in the management of mild to moderate Covid-19. As this is an orally-administered medication, it is more convenient thann intravenous medicines," the company said in its statement 

In India, Favipiravir was first approved by the regulatory authorities in June under emergency use authorisation to treat Covid-19 patients.

Rahul Kumar Darda, CMD, Brinton Pharma said, “As a socially responsible company, we always wanted to launch “evidence-based cure” to combat Covid-19. Our strategic intent will be to improve the access through our strong distribution network that will help make Faviton available across all Covid treatment centers and our MRP is Rs 59 per tablet”.

Amid controversy over the pricing and efficacy of the generic oral antiviral drug favipiravir, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announced top line results from a phase-3 clinical trial of the drug on Wednesday. It claimed that 69.8 per cent of patients in the favipiravir treatment arm achieved ‘clinical cure’ by Day-4. Favipiravir is a broad spectrum oral antiviral drug that selectively inhibits the viral replication phase of SARS-Cov-2 virus.