Two cos to market anti-Covid pill

FE Team | Published: November 09, 2021 23:48:15

The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has authorised two local pharmaceutical companies for marketing Molnupiravir, the first oral Covid-19 antiviral drug, reports UNB.
Major General Md Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of the DGDA, came up with the information at a press briefing on Tuesday.
"DGDA has approved Molnupiravir for emergency use but it's not an alternative to vaccine. People must take Covid jabs. This oral medicine has to be taken as per the advice of physicians," he said.
"So far, 10 pharmaceutical companies have sought permission for marketing and we have authorised Beximco Pharmaceuticals and Eskayef Pharmaceuticals for marketing. The eight other companies awaiting approval are Square, General, Beacon, Reneta, Incepta, Acme, Health Care and Popular pharmaceuticals," he added.
The DGDA Director General said it is a five-dose course and people have to take eight pills each day in five days.
Meanwhile, report by bdnews24.com adds: Pharmaceutical companies of the country have begun marketing Molnupiravir, the first of its kind, upon the approval from regulators.
Beximco began the sales on Tuesday after getting the emergency production and marketing authorisation, said DG of the DGDA.
Eskayef and Square Pharmaceuticals are likely to begin marketing the pill within the next week.
Beximco Pharma is supplying the drug with the brand name Emorivir at Tk 70 per capsule. Eskayef has priced its pills, Monuvir, at Tk 50 each.
A patient needs to take eight 200 mg capsules daily -- four at a time, two times a day -- for five days following a doctor's prescription to treat mild to moderate infections. Trial research has suggested that the pill is likely to be most effective when taken during the early stages of infection.
"We think the drug will help eliminate coronavirus from the country," said Mahbubur, the chief of DGDA.
Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies were able to swiftly bring in the medicine due to having rights to "copyright exemption" on some drugs as a "developing country", Mahbubur said.
On Oct 27, Merck granted a royalty-free licence for its promising COVID-19 pill to the United Nations-backed nonprofit Medicines Patent Pool, an organisation that works to make medical treatment and technologies globally accessible.
The deal has allowed companies in 105 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia and including Bangladesh, to sublicence the formulation for the antiviral pill and begin making it.
A large clinical trial showed that Molnupiravir halved the risk of hospitalisation and death in high-risk COVID patients who took the drug soon after infection.
Beximco said 7.3 per cent of Msolnupiravir patients were hospitalised after 29 days compared to 14.1 per cent of patients who were treated with a placebo.
On Nov 4, Britain became the first country in the world to approve the potential antiviral pill, sold under the brand name Lagevrio, developed jointly by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, both based in the US.
Molnupiravir works by interfering with the replication of the virus. This prevents it from multiplying, keeping virus levels low in the body and therefore reducing the severity of the disease, Beximco says.
Meanwhile another report adds: Beximco Pharmaceuticals has launched production of the generic version of Merck & Co's experimental pill.
The company officially launched production of the oral antiviral drug Molnupiravir, for symptomatic COVID-19 on Tuesday, after receiving the authorization.