Zydus Cadila launches India's cheapest remdesivir version at Rs 2,800 per 100 mg vial

BENGALURU: Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Thursday said it has launched a generic version of Remdesivir, used for treating patients suffering from severe COVID-19 symptoms, at Rs 2,800 per 100 mg vial in the Indian market.

Branded as Remdac, the drug is the most economical Remdesivir brand in India, Zydus Cadila said in a regulatory filing.

The company said the drug will be made available across India through the group's distribution chain reaching out to government and private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

"Remdac is the most affordable drug as we would like to enable patients to have access to this critical drug in the treatment of COVID-19," Cadila Healthcare Managing Director Sharvil Patel said.

Through the course of this pandemic, the company's efforts have been focused on supporting people in this healthcare crisis, whether it is through developing vaccines, ramping up production and distribution of critical drugs and therapies, making diagnostic tests available or exploring new treatment options, he added.

The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for the drug has been developed and manufactured at the group's API manufacturing facilities in Gujarat, Zydus Cadila said.

Complete backward integration makes Remdac the most economical Remdesivir brand in India, it added.

In June this year, Zydus had entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Gilead Sciences to manufacture and sell Remdesivir, the investigational drug, which has been issued an emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to treat patients suffering from severe symptoms of COVID-19, the filing said.

Zydus Cadila's vaccine ZyCov-D is now in phase-II of clinical trials, it added.

Zydus Cadila is the fifth company to have launched its generic version of Remdesivir in India. Hetero Labs, Cipla, Mylan and Jubilant Life Sciences have already launched their generic versions of antiviral drug Remdesivir in the country.

With a record single-day spike of 66,999 cases, India's COVID-19 tally mounted to 23,96,637 on Thursday, according to the health ministry.

Shares of Cadila Healthcare, the listed entity of the Zydus group settled at Rs 385.90 per scrip on BSE, up 0.16 per cent from its previous close.