The first consignment of antiviral remdesivir from American biotech company Gilead Sciences is set to reach Indian shores over the next two days.
About 1.5 lakh vials will be shipped in over May 4th and 5th and will be handed over to the Government, an industry source told BusinessLine, without divulging details. The consignment is being shipped through KlinEra Global Services, which has the import license on this product, the source added.
This is part of Gilead’s recent statement that it would donate at least 450,000 vials of Veklury® (remdesivir) to help address the immediate needs of Indian patients. The remaining lots would follow in the coming weeks, the source added.
Remdesivir is in short supply in India, and Gilead recently said it would support its licensee partners to scale up production. Gilead’s licensing partners in India include Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, Hetero Labs, Jubilant Lifesciences, Mylan (sourcing from India), Syngene (a Biocon company) and Zydus Cadila. The voluntary licensing program for remdesivir was established in May 2020 and it allowed them to produce for local use and export to 127 low and middle income countries.
Remdesivir has an emergency use approval in India. And though the World Health Organization has said that the drug was not “lïfe-saving”, doctors point out that it was useful in bringing down the days spent in a hospital.