India waives import duty on Covid-19 drug Remdesivir

The government has also waived import duties on Beta Cyclodextrin used in the manufacture of Remdesivir

In a bid to boost supplies of Remdesivir, the Centre on Tuesday scrapped the import duties on active pharmaceutical ingredients of the anti-viral drug, injections and specific inputs used in its production.

“Remdesivir API, injection and specific inputs have now been made import duty free,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said as the country experienced shortages of the anti-viral drug prescribed to patients of Covid-19.

Ironically, India was exporting the drug to 100 countries till recently and had to stop its sale to overseas clients due to shortage of the drug.

Read: Uttar Pradesh govt announces free Covid-19 vaccine for all above 18 years from May 1

The Centre has also decided to make allocation of Remdesivir injections to states based on objective criteria.

“Since the clinical guidance provides that Remdesivir should be used in cases where oxygen is also required, the allocation is based on the oxygen allocation carried out by the Empowered Group-2 to various states,” a health ministry statement said.

The issue came up for discussion during a meeting Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Pharmaceuticals Secretary S Aparna had with representatives of states and union territories on issues related to medicines used in the treatment of Covid-19 in hospital setting.

The ministry said the schedule for allocation of Remdesivir for the period of 10 days starting from April 21 has been worked out and the position will be reviewed after a few days.

“For the states, for which oxygen allocation was not made, Remdesivir allocation will also be made shortly,” the health ministry statement said.

The Centre also requested state governments to ensure judicious use of Remdesivir as per clinical management protocol for Covid-19 and take steps to prevent black marketing and hoarding of the drug.

Production of Remdesivir had been reduced to 27 lakh vials per month recently as Covid-19 cases were on the decline earlier this year, V K Paul, Member Niti Ayog, had said on Monday.

He said the production of the drug will be stepped up to 40 lakh vials per month soon and subsequently enhanced to 76 lakh vials per month.