Cipla Ltd doubles the production of Remdesivir

Cipla Ltd in India has increased the production of remdesivir, Covid-19 medicine to two-folds in order to meet the ‘unprecedented demand’ as the entire country fights against the massive wave of coronavirus for the second time, according to the drugmaker who stated this on Tuesday.

India has beaten Brazil in this respect. It comes second to just after the United States, having registered around 107 million vaccine doses amongst the population of 1.4 billion.

In order to meet up to the requirements of medicines in many parts of the country, India on Sunday banned the export of remdesivir, the anti-viral drug along with its active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Cipla stated, “We have scaled up the production of remdesivir by 2x from the last wave of the pandemic”. It further said, “Given the unprecedented demand for the drug, we have now further ramped up our capacities through our network”.

The company in collaboration with the authorities is trying to restrict the supply of remdesivir just to hospitals and places that are over-burdened with serious Covid-19 cases.

Just a couple of months back, due to the steady decline in the number of active cases, Cipla had projected the fall in demand of remdesivir in India.

In November, the World Health Organisation issued a conditional recommendation against the use of remdesivir in patients who were hospitalized, stating that there was no proof that the drug improved the rate of survival and other outcomes. But inspite of this fact, many countries including India had a continual usage.

One of the oldest and largest drug producer in India, Cipla, has to deal and supply U.S.-based Gilead’s remdesivir in more than 100 countries. Many other Indian drug manufacturers have the same kind of agreement.

Cipla has also proclaimed the shortage of tocilizumab, an arthritis drug that Roche has developed and is proved to reduce the rate of fatality in patients suffering from severe Covid-19.

Cipla stated, “We expect intermittent supplies (of tocilizumab) as demand outstrips supply”.