Govt suspends export of Remdesivir till coronavirus situation improves

Asks all domestic manufactures of Remdesivir to display details of stock lists on their websites

The union government on Sunday suspended the export of Remdesivir injections and Remdesivir Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) till the coronavirus situation improves in the country.

India has been witnessing an unprecedented spike in coronavirus cases and reported over 150,000 new infections on Sunday. As of April 11, there are 1.1 million active cases and they are steadily increasing.

"The current situation has led to a sudden spike in demand for Remdesivir injection used in treatment of Covid patients. There is a potential of further increase in this demand in the coming days," the government said in a release.

Seven Indian companies are producing Remdesivir injections under voluntary licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences. They have an installed capacity of about 3.88 million units per month.

In addition, the government has taken the steps to ensure easy access of hospital and patients to Remdesivir

All domestic manufactures of Remdesivir have been advised to display on their website, details of their stock lists or distributors to facilitate access to the drug.

Drugs inspectors and other officers have been directed to verify stocks and check their malpractices and also take other effective actions to curb hoarding and black marketing.

The State Health Secretaries will review this with the Drug Inspectors of the respective states and Union Territories.

The government said that the department of pharmaceuticals has been in contact with the domestic manufacturers to ramp up the production of Remdesivir.