RemdacTM has been one of the critical drugs in the disease management on COVID and we hope that this price cut will enable people from every strata of the society to access this critical drug, MD of Zydus Cadila said
Zydus Cadila has slashed the price of remdesivir brand ‘Remdac’ to ₹899 per 100 mg lyophilized injection from ₹2,800 earlier with an aim to increase access to the drug, used to treat severe covid-19 patients in hospital.
“Through the course of this pandemic, our efforts have been focused on making therapies accessible and affordable to people. RemdacTM has been one of the critical drugs in the disease management on COVID and we hope that this price cut will enable people from every strata of the society to access this critical drug," managing director Sharvil Patel said in a statement.
Zydus had launched the drug, which is given in intravenous form, in August after having signed a licensing agreement with its patent holder Gilead Sciences Inc two months earlier. The company was among seven Indian firms to sign the agreement with Gilead for manufacturing and sale of remdesivir in low- and middle-income countries, including India.
The other companies were Cipla, Mylan, Jubilant Life Sciences, Hetero Drugs, Syngene International and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. These companies have priced their brands of remdesivir at ₹3,000 per vial and above.
The price cut by Cadila Healthcare comes at a crucial time as India is facing a resurgence of cases in a second wave. On Tuesday, 47,239 new cases were reported across the country, with 277 more deaths. The case addition was the highest since 11 November, while death toll was the highest since late December.
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