Glenmark reduces price of Covid drug, studies effect on 1k patients

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Panaji:

Glenmark

Pharmaceuticals, which has a manufacturing facility in Goa, announced that it has started studying the effect of its anti-viral drug FabiFlu on Covid-19 patients who have mild to moderate symptoms. As part a wide study, Glenmark is monitoring 1,000 Covid-19 patients to further establish that the oral drug is safe for patients.

Glenmark has already completed phase 3 clinical trials with FabiFlu in mild to moderate Covid-19 patients and the results are expected shortly, the company said.

The drug firm also announced that lower production costs helped the company pass on the benefits to patients by reducing the price of the drug by 27% in India to Rs 75 per tablet. The drug was earlier priced at 103 per tablet.

“We expect this post marketing surveillance study to shed more light on the drug’s clinical effectiveness and safety in a large cohort of patients prescribed FabiFlu,” said senior vice-president and head-India business Alok Malik said.

Malik said that the company’s priority is to offer effective treatment for Covid-19, while also ensuring accessibility. “Our internal research shows us that we launched FabiFlu in India at the lowest market cost as compared to the cost of Favipiravir in other countries where it is approved. And now we hope that this further price reduction will make it even more accessible for patients across the country,” he said.

Glenmark developed the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and the formulation for FabiFlu through its own in-house research team. The API is manufactured at Glenmark’s Gujarat production facility which is US FDA and MHRA–UK approved. The formulation product is manufactured at the facility in Himachal Pradesh, which is also USFDA and MHRA-UK approved.

On June 20, Glenmark said it received approval from the country’s drug regulator to manufacture and market FabiFlu to treat mild to moderate Covid-19 cases. The approval’s restricted use requires the patient consent before the treatment begins.