The company has sought the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s approval to market a generic version of Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), said Gilead Sciences, the US company that owns the Tamiflu patent. Natco officials declined to comment on the development.
The company has entered into an 'in-licencing agreement' with Gilead Sciences Inc to produce and sell, under licence, three new HIV/AIDS drugs which are currently in late stages of clinical development, Ranbaxy Laboratories said.
Among the companies likely to sign deals with Gilead are Cadila, Hetero, Strides Arcolab and Mylan, while Cipla is expected to earn active pharmaceutical ingredient rights.
The EUA allows for Remdesivir to be distributed in the US and administered intravenously by health care providers, as appropriate, to treat suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalised with severe condition.
The first consignment of 75,000 vials will reach India on Friday, it added.
The antiviral drug may cost around Rs 55,000 for an 11-dose course, or Rs 5,000 per injection -- much less than the price of imports from Bangladesh, reports Sohini Das.
The White House described the development as "quite good news".
ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 13 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC, TCS, M&M, Infosys and Maruti. NSE Nifty soared 306.55 points, or 3.21 per cent, to 9,859.90.
Artificial shortages and brazen hawking of the drug on the streets at 15 times the normal price rule the day as the official machinery tries desperately to stamp out the parallel market, reports Sohini Das
While Lupin is working on a Remdesivir powder for inhalation, Glenmark has tied up with a Canadian Biotech firm for nitric oxide nasal spray that reduces Sars-CoV-2 viral load and thus transmission.
The Hyderabad-based firm will first make the drug available in high case load areas of Maharashtra and Delhi under the brand Covifor. A single dose vial is likely to cost Rs 5,000-6000.
Cipla, the country's leading drug maker, has sent a legal notice to George Washington University of the United States on a recent symposium it had organised in India.
Remdesivir is considered a key anti-viral drug in the fight against Covid-19. In addition, the government has taken three steps to ensure easy access of hospitals and patients to Remdesivir.
The company said the drug will be made available across India through the group's strong distribution chain reaching out to government and private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.
In a victory for Indian drug companies, patent protection has been refused to Tenofovir, an anti-AIDS medicine of the US-based Gilead Sciences. The decision was taken by the patent office in New Delhi.
"They are extending support as they feel that this is the time we must help India. 'India has helped us and we must help India'. So I do not think we are looking at it in policy terms," the foreign secretary said.
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd said on Monday it has entered into a licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences Inc for manufacturing and marketing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient and formulations containing anti-HIV drug Tenofovir.
Strides Arcolab Ltd has signed an agreement with US-based bio-pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences, for manufacturing and distributing generic versions of anti-HIV drugs Truvada and Viread.
The health ministry on Saturday recommended the use of antiviral drug remdesivir in moderate stage of COVID-19 while backtracking from its earlier stance on hydroxychloroquine, saying the anti-malarial drug should be used in the early course of the disease and not on critically ill patients.
'I cannot cope with the demand. It will take us a couple of months to ramp up production.'
Cipla is among the three Indian companies that signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences to make and distribute the latter's repurposed Ebola drug Remdesivir in 127 countries including India.
The company is set to deliver the first set of 20,000 vials in two equal lots of 10,000 each, one of which will be immediately supplied to Hyderabad, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, Hetero Healthcare said in a statement.
A longer shelf life is critical, given many makers have started manufacturing vaccines and stockpiling them, so as to make them available in the market immediately after approval, reports Sohini Das.
Axis Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging over 13 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Maruti, TCS, Kotak Bank and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, Nestle India, HUL, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma ended in the red. NSE Nifty zoomed 273.95 points, or 3.03 per cent, to finish at 9,266.75.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been ranked as the world's best performing CEO.
'Without vaccine, Tokyo Olympics in 2021 is difficult'
Reliance Industries has been named as the world's fifth biggest 'sustainable value creator' globally in terms of investor returns over a decade.
The reason for the windfall: the soaring value of their stock awards.
Hetero has priced the injectable drug at Rs 5,400 per 100 mg vial. With More drugmakers in line to launch the drug soon, the prices may see a further erosion.
According to a gazette notification of the draft rules published on June 5, a hospital or medical institution may import new drug for 'compassionate use for treatment of patients suffering from life threatening disease or disease causing serious permanent disability or disease requiring therapy for unmet medical need', which has not been permitted in the country, but under Phase-III clinical trial (human trial) in the country or abroad, by making an application to the Central Drug Regulator.
The vaccine would be first made available to the vulnerable population and eventually, it would be available in the private market for all.
An insider said that over the past decade or so Cipla has become immune to the exits of leaders. There have been no directional change in the long-term strategies.
A large number of American companies like Google, Uber and IBM are offering their resources to help India successfully fight the battle against the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
As the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday warned officials of punishment if they shirked responsibility in tackling the virus outbreak.
Not to say that India couldn't have handled the situation better, but on average, it didn't do anywhere near as badly as the naysayers make it out argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
Atwood's The Testaments and Evaristo's novel Girl, Woman, Other earned each author an equal share of the 50,000 prize.
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