Remdesivir is a word we all have been hearing for as many times as we hear COVID 19!
2 min read
Amid the sudden surge of COVID 19 in India with 1,84,372 cases being reported on Wednesday 14th April 2021 many states have reported a shortage of this drug Remdesivir.
Search trend on Google has increased 100 times in March and April for the word Remdesivir.
What is Remdesivir?
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gilead Sciences Inc’s antiviral therapy drug Remdesivir in October of 2020 making it the first drug approved to treat COVID 19. The drug helps in inhibiting a substance of virus that helps the virus to multiply itself. This helps in stopping the internal spread of the virus. It was initially founded in 2009 to treat Hepatitis C but it did not work and was under research till 2014.
Later was used to treat 2 of the major diseases from the same COVID family – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). While the world is confident about this magical drug, WHO said that the drug had no significant effect on the patients. The claim of WHO was not reviewed by any outside expert to confirm the same.
Status in India
India has approved Remdesivir under the National Clinical Management Protocol for COVID 19. Sawai Man Singh Medical College, Jaipur has refuted the claim of WHO and has agreed that the drug is effective on the patients.
In India following companies are making the drug under the following names and prices:
- Zydus’s Remdac – Rs. 2800
- Hetero Lab’s Covifor – Rs. 5000-6000
- Dr. Reddy’s Redyx – Rs. 5400
- Cipla’s Cipremi – Rs. 4000
Other companies producing are – Jubilant Life Science, Biocon’s Syngene, and the Indian unit of Mylan. Maharashtra government recently price capped the drug at Rs. 1100 to make it available for all at affordable prices.
Why are they in shortage?
One of the reasons being discussed for a sudden shortage is the scaling down of production of the same in January and February considering the falling cases. The overall production capacity as of now is 31.6 lakh vials a month. The sudden shortage has led to black marketing of drugs where the same drug is being sold at 10 times its MRP. Recently in Mumbai 3 men were arrested for selling the drug at Rs. 20,000! The export of this drug has been banned by the government to tackle the national demand.
Government has also approved 7 different sites to ramp up the production of the same. These sites will increase production by 10 lakh units per month. Another 30 lakh production plan is lined up.
