According to the agreement the companies Cipla, Hetero Labs, Jubilant Life Sciences, Mylan, and Pakistan based Ferozsons Labs, to manufacture and sell remdesivir in 127 countries
US-based Gilead Sciences said that it has signed non-exclusive licensing agreements with five generic drug makers in India and Pakistan to expand the supply of antiviral drug remdesivir. The re-purposed Ebola drug is being considered as a potential therapy for coronavirus (Covid-19). According to the agreement the companies Cipla, Hetero Labs, Jubilant Life Sciences, Mylan, and Pakistan based Ferozsons Labs, to manufacture and sell remdesivir in 127 countries. The stocks of Cipla and Jubilant were trading high on the BSE in morning trade – Jubilant was up about 5 per cent, Cipla 2.5 per cent.
Most of these 127 countries are low-income and lower-middle-income nations along with some upper-middle and high-income countries that face significant obstacles to healthcare access. Under terms of the licensing agreement, these companies will have the right to receive a technology transfer of the Gilead manufacturing process and can scale up production. This would, however, be subject to approvals by regulatory authorities in the respective countries. India can also start using the drug on patients on compassionate grounds. The government was checking with pharma companies on how soon the drug can be manufactured here for trials.
Gilead had earlier indicated that it was working to build a global consortium to expand the production of remdesivir and make it available across countries. The drug, which is an injectable, got emergency approval from the US drug regulator recently. The trials show that patients administered with remdesivir recover faster than others. However, remdesivir remains an investigational drug and has not been approved by the USFDA.
No comments:
Post a Comment