India Approves Remdesivir for Treatment of COVID-19 Patients, Says It Slows Replication of Virus

India Approves Remdesivir for Treatment of COVID-19 Patients, Says It Slows Replication of Virus

By Martins Ifijeh

India’s highest drug controller, Central Drug Control Standard Organisation (CDCSO), has approved the emergency use of Remdesivir on COVID-19 patients, saying it reduces replication of the virus in the body.

Announcing this Tuesday, the agency said it had given permission to Gilead Sciences, makers of the drug, for marketing authorisation.

It said: “Remdesivir will be available in the form of an injection and will only be sold on retail by the prescription of a doctor for hospital use. The drug has been shown to reduce replication of COVID-19 in the body system.

“The decision was reached after consultation with an expert committee has granted the Remdesivir drug only to be given in emergencies in laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients in India.”

Even the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorisation for the investigational antiviral drug Remdesivir for the treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 in adults and children hospitalised with severe disease.

Recently, Gilead Sciences, in a press statement, said that it had entered into non-exclusive licensing agreements with pharmaceutical firms including three domestic majors Cipla, Jubilant Life Sciences and Hetero for manufacture and distribution of the anti-viral drug.

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