In a significant development, the Central government has capped the price of Remdesivir. The decision was taken in reference to the ongoing efforts for enhancement of availability and affordability of Remdesivir injection. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan informed this through his official Twitter handle yesterday.
The antiviral drug is used in the treatment of COVID-19. The antiviral drug will now be sold for as less as Rs 899. Drug companies like Cadila Healthcare, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Cipla have voluntarily curtailed the prices of their respective brands of remdesivir injection.
According to the details shared by the NPPA, Cadila Healthcare has reduced the price of its REMDAC (Remdesivir 100 mg) injection to Rs 899 from Rs 2,800 earlier. Similarly, Syngene International has cut the price of its brand RemWin to Rs 2,450 from Rs 3,950 earlier.
The announcement comes days after the Centre held a meeting with all-existing manufacturers of the drug and other stakeholders in order to discuss steps taken to increase production and supply and reduce prices of Remdesivir.
Health minister also said issues pertaining to augmenting the supply of oxygen cylinders, stepping up supply of Remdesivir in hospitals, adding to the ventilator stock, and enhanced supply of vaccine doses were raised by almost all the 11 states that participated in the meeting and thus has been working to fix the supply shortage for more than a week now.
Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya also informed that the manufacturers have already started producing around “1.5 lakh vials per day which will increase to 3 lakh vials per month within next 15 days. Apart from the present 20 plants, permissions have been given to another 20 to start production”.
