COVID-19 drug: Maharashtra, Delhi to receive first batch

Hetero, the Hyderabad-based drugmaker has sent 20,000 vials of the experimental COVID-19 drug Remdesivir to five states including Maharashtra and Delhi, reported NDTV. The company has received the approval to manufacture and market generic version of the drug.

The other two states are Gujarat and Tamil Nadu which will receive the first batch of the drug which is being marketed under the brand name COVIFOR in India. Hyderabad will also receive the first consignment.

Hyderabad based drugmaker said a 100-milligram vial of the drug will cost Rs 5,400. The company has set a target to produce one lakh vials of the drug in three-four weeks.

In the next batch, the drug will be shipped to Kolkata, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Kochi, Trivandrum and Goa.

Currently, the drug is being manufactured at the company's formulation facility in Hyderabad. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is being made in the firm's Visakhapatnam facility, news agency PTI reported.

The drug will be available only through hospitals and government and not via retail , PTI reported quoting Hetero Group of Companies MD Vamsi Krishna Bandi.