Glenmark Pharma Covid-19 Drug Update
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has said that its viral drug – Favipiravir under the brand name FabiFlu is the first oral approved medication for Covid-19. This drug will be used as a treatment for mild Covid-19 symptoms. This drug from Glenmark costs Rs.103 per tablet and will be available at medical stores against a prescription.
The drug recommended dosage is at 1,800 mg twice daily on day one, followed by 800 mg twice a day for 14 days.
This drug will be available in hospitals and at Glenmark's retail channels. Glenmark is a Mumbai based firm and they got an approval from Drugs Controller General of India which was released on Saturday 20th June.
This approval and release at a time when India is seeing a spike in COVID cases have put the healthcare system at some relief.
Glenmark's manufacturing unit at Baddi is successfully developing the active pharma ingredient in-house so as to make the medication available across the country quickly.
The best part about this COVID drug news is that the medication will be an oral product and will not need in-vitro administration. This is a huge benefit at this time when the hospital infrastructure in India is under tremendous stress.
This drug falls in the safe drug zone, making it safe for patients with diabetes and heart disease conditions as well, with mild Covid-19 symptoms.
Following this news, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals saw a huge surge in their shares to about 40% rise.
While in many countries until now this drug has not been approved as a Covid-19 drug, but Japan has officially approved favipiravir as an epidemic flu drug.
Glenmark has also initiated trials for a combination of favipiravir and umifenovir as a potential Covid-19 treatment drug.
