The developer of Remdesivir has evaluated the original version at $ 390 per 100 mg vial (File)
Bengaluru:
Indian pharmacist Cipla Ltd has evaluated its generic version of Remdesivir, Cipremi, at 4,000 rupees ($ 53.34) per 100 mg vial, according to several sources, making it one of the cheapest versions of the COVID-19 treatment available to date in the world.
Cipla had previously stated that the price would not exceed 5,000 rupees. On Tuesday, Sovereign Pharma, which manufactures and packages the drug for Cipla, announced that it had shipped the first batch.
Cipla chief executive officer and executive vice president Nikhil Chopra said in an email statement that the company launched Cipremi commercially on Wednesday and aims to supply more than 80,000 vials in the first month, but failed given price or dosage details.
The drug will be available only from government and hospitals, the company said.
According to some sources, the first batch of 10,000 bottles had been printed at the price of 4,000 rupees, or 800 rupees below the cheapest option, launched by the European competitor Mylan this week.
The private version of Hetero Labs Ltd, Covifor, costs 5,400 rupees per bottle while Mylan prices Desrem at 4,800 rupees.
CNBC TV-18 said earlier Wednesday that Cipla will launch its drug in the coming days, priced at 4,000 rupees.
With the increase in coronavirus cases, several other large Indian-based health companies that manufacture most of the world‘s pharmaceuticals are expected to launch competing versions of Remdesivir, the only major treatment approved for COVID-19 to date.
Remdesivir Developer, Gilead Sciences Inc , assessed the original version at $ 390 per 100 mg vial for wealthy countries while signing license agreements with generic producers to make the treatment widely available.
India is now the third country most affected by the pandemic with 700,000 cases, behind the United States and Brazil.
A Cipla employee, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the company would send Cipremi to stockists from Thursday.
It was not immediately clear how many vials of Cipla would be needed for a full treatment. Gilead said that a patient would typically need six vials of Remdesivir for a five-day course.
(Report by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Siddharth Cavale and Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; edited by Patrick Graham and Bernard Orr)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
