PIL in HC seeks permission for sale of Remdesivir in domestic markets

A PIL in the Delhi High Court has urged it to direct the Centre to permit sale of Remdesivir, used in COVID-19 treatment, by those pharmaceutical companies which manufacture it solely for the purpose of export so that the drug is easily available in the market for needy patients.

The petition, which is listed for hearing on Monday before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh, has said that there are more than 25 companies in India which manufacture the medicine, but only six to eight of them are permitted to sell it in the domestic market and the rest were producing it for exports alone.

The petitioner, Dincur Bajaj, has contended that since export of Remdesivir has been banned by the Centre, the companies which were producing it for export be permitted to manufacture and sell it in the domestic market.

"It is pertinent to mention that the scarcity of Remdesiviris causing its extensive black-marketing and the black marketers are charging prices up to Rs 1,00,000 per vial, due to its non-availability," Bajaj, who is a lawyer and the Joint Secretary of the Delhi High Court Bar Association, has said in his plea.

The petition, filed through advocates Amit Saxena and Imran Ali, has also said that huge stocks of the medicine are lying at the ports for being exported and the same can be sold in the domestic market.