Star Online Report
The Maharashtra government yesterday said that it will buy the repurposed Ebola drug remdesivir from Bangladesh to treat critical Covid-19 patients at a price of Rs 12,000 per vial.
As Indian manufacturers are yet to have marketing authorisation and its innovator Gilead is yet to launch in the market, the state government is open to procuring it from Bangladesh, reports Indian news outlet Business Standard.
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said it has decided to procure 10,000 vials of remdesivir.
“It will cost around Rs 12 crore and will be purchased through corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds of corporates. Remdesivir has been used effectively against SARS and has also been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO),” Tope said according to the Business Standard.
This works out to Rs 12,000 per vial. It is not clear if Maharashtra will ask the drug majors to supply the drug under CSR or would seek help from big corporates to donate the drug to state run hospitals for free.
Bangladeshi pharmaceuticals company Eskayef became the first to sell the generic version of the drug, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals also started selling the generic version soon afterwards.
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