Dr Reddy's to bring Sanofi's novel RSV drug to Indian market

HYDERABAD: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories on Monday said it has expanded its strategic partnership with French biopharma giant Sanofi’s Indian arm, Sanofi Healthcare India Pvt Ltd (SHIPL), to bring a novel drug Beyfortus, which contains monoclonal antibody nirsevimab, to the Indian market.

Beyfortus, which has been approved for use in the European Union, US, China, Japan, among several countries globally, received its marketing authorisation approval from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in June last year.

As part of the arrangement, Dr Reddy’s will have exclusive rights from SHIPL to promote and distribute Beyfortus in India. Last year, Dr Reddy’s had entered into an exclusive distribution partnership with Sanofi for their portfolio of vaccines in India.

The drug, which will be rolled out in a prefilled injection in the second quarter of the current fiscal year in India, is used for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is a highly contagious virus that can lead to serious respiratory illness, as well as lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) in newborns and infants born during or entering their first RSV season.

The drug can also be administered in children up to 24 months of age, who remain vulnerable to severe RSV disease through their second RSV season.

The company said two out of three infants are infected with RSV during the first year of their life and almost all children are infected by their second birthday.

Apart from being the most common cause of LRTD, such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants, RSV is also a leading cause of hospitalisation in infants worldwide, with most hospitalisations occurring in healthy infants born at term, it added.

In 2019, there were approximately 33 million cases of acute lower respiratory infections globally, leading to more than 3 million hospitalisations and an estimated 26,300 in-hospital deaths of children younger than five years.

Nitya Padmanabhan, head of Sanofi Vaccines (India) said, “Bringing Beyfortus to India is a pivotal step in our mission to protect every child from immunisation preventable diseases like RSV. In India, where the disease burden is significant and early protection is critical. This collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s enables us to reach parents and healthcare providers with an innovative solution.”

MV Ramana, CEO, branded markets (India and emerging markets), Dr Reddy’s, said, Beyfortus will help strengthen the company’s immunisation portfolio in the Indian market.