Coronavirus India | Cipla to soon launch COVID-19 drug Ciplenza at Rs 68 per tablet

Cipla said on July 24 that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted it regulatory approval to launch COVID-19 treatment drug Favipiravir in the country.

The medicine will be launched under the brand name Ciplenza and will be used to treat COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms.

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The Indian pharma company will be launching Ciplenza commercially in the first week of August and each tablet will be retailed for Rs 68, Mint reported.

Notably, Favipiravir, which is known to quicken the pace of clinical recovery of COVID-19 patients, is an oral anti-viral drug. The pharma firm has said supplies will be routed primarily through hospitals and other open channels to make sure there is “fair and equitable distribution of the drug. Ideally, Ciplenza will be supplied to regions with a high incidence of COVID-19 cases first."

Though India’s COVID-19 patient recovery rate is above 63 percent, the regulatory nod for manufacturing and marketing the drug was hastened because there is an urgent need for coronavirus treatment options in the country.

Commenting on the drug Ciplenza, which was developed by Cipla and CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, the pharma major said: “As part of this partnership, CSIR-IICT has successfully developed a convenient and cost-effective synthetic process for Favipiravir. The entire process and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) of the drug has been transferred to Cipla to manufacture and market the drug at scale.”

Favipiravir was originally developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical and is frequently used to treat common influenza in several countries.

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