Following the surge in instances of Covid-19, pharma main Cadila Healthcare (Zydus Cadila) is scaling up production capacity of Remdesivir injections, which are used to treat coronavirus patients.
Zydus Cadila has an installed capacity to make eight lakh doses of Remdesivir per month. Sources in the Zydus group mentioned that in the coming days, the installed capacity will be elevated up to 12 lakh doses per month at its Ahmedabad and Vadodara plants.
“Zydus has taken test licences for the development of both plants where Remdesivir is being manufactured,” Dr HG Koshia, commissioner, Food & Drug Control Authority, Gujarat, confirmed.
Th capacity expansion will enable the drugmaker compensate for the current reduce in the drug’s cost by way of bulk production, the enterprise sources mentioned. Zydus has reduce the cost of its Remdesivir injection to Rs 899 per one hundred mg lyophilised injection from Rs 2,800 per vial it charged earlier.
The Ahmedabad-headquartered enterprise had inked a non-executive agreement with Gilead Sciences final June to manufacture and sell Remdesivir in India. As per a senior official of the enterprise, Zydus was witnessing substantial demand for Remdesivir as its item is more economical compared to other providers.
Companies like Cipla, Mylan, Jubilant Life Sciences, Hetero Drugs, Syngene International and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories are also manufacturing Remdesivir for the Indian industry.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat government is in the course of action of buying 3 lakh doses of Remdesivir from Zydus Cadila for uninterrupted provide at Covid-19 centres. The government had issued a tender to this impact and the lowest bid was from Zydus. “We have started procuring Remdesivir at less than Rs 800 per dose from Zydus,” Koshia mentioned.
In the final 24 hours, more than 4,000 new Covid-19 instances have been reported in Gujarat. The total quantity of instances in the state has crossed 3,32,500 as of Friday evening due to the fact the outbreak of the pandemic. There are about 20,500 active instances.