Gilead Sciences' experimental drug Remdesivir has been found to aid in the recovery of COVID-19 patients.
Gilead Sciences has said its licensed manufacturers in India are free to fix the price of Remdesivir, The Economic Times has reported.
Remdesivir is the experimental drug used for treating patients of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The report further cites the United States-based company as saying that its own brand of Remdesivir will be available in India from July.
Gilead Sciences' experimental drug Remdesivir has been found to aid in the recovery of COVID-19 patients.
In India, the US-based company has licensing agreements for Remdesivir with four pharmaceutical companies — Cipla, Hetero Drugs, Jubilant Life Sciences and Mylan.
Also read | Gilead's Remdesivir could see $7 billion in annual sales on stockpiling boost: Analyst
A Gilead spokesperson told the newspaper that generic manufacturers would be free to set prices. “It is our hope and intent that volumes and competition will drive costs down,” the spokesperson added.
The report further cites a private physician in Mumbai as saying that distributors of Hetero Pharma, one of the licensees, are quoting Rs 7,000 per 100 mg vial for the generic version of Remdesivir.
At this price, a five-day full course would cost Rs 35,000- Rs 42,000. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
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However, it was earlier reported that Indian pharmaceutical companies are yet to receive an approval to market Remdesivir.
It was also reported earlier that companies licensed to manufacture Remdesivir might have to sell it only to government institutions for now as the drug was still under trial.
Gilead Sciences is reportedly developing easier-to-administer versions of Remdesivir for COVID-19 that could be used outside of hospitals, including ones that can be inhaled, after trials showed moderate effectiveness for the drug given by infusion.
For critically-ill patients, Roche and Eli Lilly and Co are testing drugs in combination with Remdesivir.
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