Glenmark cuts price of Covid-19 drug favipiravir by 27% to Rs 75 per tablet

Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Monday said it has cut price of antiviral drug Favipiravir - sold under the brand name FabiFlu for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 - by 27 per cent to Rs 75 per tablet.

The company had launched the drug last month at a price of Rs 103 per tablet.

In a regulatory filing Glenmark announced a price reduction of 27 per cent for FabiFlu. The new maximum retail price (MRP) is Rs 75 per tablet, it said.

"The price reduction has been made possible through benefits gained from higher yields and better scale, as both the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and formulations are made at Glenmark's facilities in India, the benefits of which are being passed on to patients in the country," the filing said.

The API is manufactured at the company's Ankleshwar plant, while the formulation is being manufactured at its Baddi plant in Himachal Pradesh.

"Our internal research shows us that we launched FabiFlu in India at the lowest market cost as compared to the cost of Favipiravir in other countries where it is approved. And now we hope that this further price reduction will make it even more accessible for patients across the country," Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Senior Vice President and Head – India business Alok Malik said.

The company also said it has commenced a post marketing surveillance (PMS) study on FabiFlu to closely monitor the efficacy and safety of the drug in 1,000 patients that are prescribed with the oral antiviral, as part of an open label, multicenter, single arm study, the filing said.

"We expect this post marketing surveillance study to shed more light on the drug's clinical effectiveness and safety in a large cohort of patients prescribed FabiFlu," Malik said.

On June 20, Glenmark announced receiving manufacturing and marketing approval from India's drug regulator for FabiFlu, making it the first oral Favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19.

The company has also completed the phase 3 clinical trial with Favipiravir (FabiFlu) in mild to moderate Covid-19 patients in India. The trial results will be available shortly, the filing said.

Glenmark is also conducting another Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of two antiviral drugs Favipiravir and Umifenovir as a combination therapy in moderate hospitalised adult Covid-19 patients in India, it added.

When asked about the company's manufacturing capacity of the drug, Glenmark had earlier said: "Considering a minimum of two strips per patient, Glenmark will be able to provide FabiFlu for about 82,500 patients in the 1st month itself. We will be closely monitoring the evolving situation and basis the situation, we will work to scale and meet the healthcare needs of the country".

The country saw yet another record single-day jump of 28,701 cases, pushing its tally to 8,78,254, while the death toll climbed to 23,174, according to the Union Health Ministry data at 8 AM on Monday.

Shares of Glenmark Pharma closed at Rs 415.45 per scrip on the BSE, down 2.64 per cent from its previous close.