Pharmaceutical company Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has reduced the price of its antiviral drug Favipiravir, which is used to treat Covid-19, by 27 per cent to Rs 75 per tablet.
The company has launched the drug under the brand name 'febiflu'. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said in a statement on Monday that it has reduced the price of its drug 'febiflu' by 27 per cent. Now the new maximum retail price (MRP) of the drug will be Rs 75 per tablet. Febiflu was launched in the market last month. Then the price of one tablet was kept at Rs 103.
Alok Malik, senior vice president and head (India business), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, said, "Our internal analysis shows that we have released this medicine in India at a lower price than in countries where it has been approved.". A major reason for this is the manufacturing of both raw materials (APIs) and compounds used in pharmaceutical manufacturing at the company's Indian plant.
This has resulted in cost-benefit to the company which is now planned to be transferred to the people of the country. Malik said that "we hope that further reductions in its prices will further improve its access to the sick in the country."
"On 20 June, Glenmark announced approval for its manufacturing and marketing from India's drug regulator for its drug Febiflu. With this, it became the first approved drug for mild and very mild Covid-19 infected patients, which was allowed to sell in the market. The company has said that it has also completed a Phase III clinical trial of the drug formulated for COVID-19 patients with minor and mild infections in India. Test results will be available soon.
So far, 12 million 35 thousand 942 people have been found infected with coronavirus in the world. Of these, 75,82,035 people have been cured or discharged. At the same time, 571,571 have died.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday reported 2,30,370 new cases. The highest number of cases were reported from the USA, Brazil, India and South Africa. During this time more than 5000 people also lost their lives. Earlier on July 10, 2,28,102 cases were reported.
