COVID-19: Centre discontinues remdesivir allocation to states, says supply is more than demand

Remdesivir is being widely used in treating COVID-19 patients and its demand has skyrocketed following a surge in coronavirus cases in India.(Representative image)

The Centre, on May 29, announced that it will discontinue central allocation of remdesivir to states. Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya has directed the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Agency and CDSCO to continuously monitor the availability of Remdesivir in the country.

Taking to Twitter, Mandaviya said, "Now the country has enough remdesivir as the supply is much more than the demand. So we have decided to discontinue the Central Allocation of remdesivir to states."

We have also increased the number of plants producing Remdesivir from just 20 to 60 plants within a month.
Now the country has enough #Remdesivir as the supply is much more than the demand.
So we have decided to DISCONTINUE the Central Allocation of Remdesivir to States. (2/3) pic.twitter.com/Xv73MgO8HD

— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) May 29, 2021

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said that the production of remdesivir had been ramped up ten times from 33,000 vials/day on April 11, 2021, to 3,50,000 vials/day on May 29.

"The government has also increased the number of plants producing remdesivir from 20 to 60 plants within a month. Now the country has enough remdesivir as the supply is much more than the demand," Mandaviya said as quoted by the statement.

Further, the Centre has also decided to procure 50 lakh vials of remdesivir to maintain it as a strategic stock for the emergency requirement, he said.

The demand for the COVID-19 drug has dropped in line with the falling cases. The single-day rise in coronavirus cases was recorded at 1,73,790, the lowest in the last 45 days on May 29. India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has reached 2,77,29,247, according to the Union health ministry data updated.

The daily positivity further declined to 8.36 per cent, remaining below 10 per cent for five consecutive days, while the weekly positivity rate dropped to 9.84 percent, it said.

The active cases have also reduced to 22,28,724 with a decline of 1,14,428 cases being recorded in the active caseload.

Download your money calendar for 2022-23 here and keep your dates with your moneybox, investments, taxes