Mumbai based drug major Cipla has recently come up with plans to work on multiple drugs to find a cure for the coronavirus. The company has fine-tuned itself with the Gilead Sciences Inc. on remdesivir which happens to be a potential treatment for the respiratory infection.
The company’s global chief financial officer Kedar Upadhye in a conversation with the media stated that the company is trying all its avenues. Cipla has been trying to come to the service of the patients in order to see which pathway will be the most efficient. He further added that the company plans to attack COVID-19 in multiple ways.
Cipla is looking at multiple drugs at the moment. In generics, a combination of zinc, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin is being explored in clinical trials, while the lopinavir-ritonavir anti-cancer combination and favipiravir are other generic drugs that are also being looked at by the company.
Cipla, that is headquartered in Mumbai is amongst the four topmost companies. The other three being Mylan, Jubilant Life Sciences, and Hetero Drugs who have signed a pact with US-based Gilead for manufacturing of the patented intravenous drug remdesivir. In recent developments, Gilead last week signed voluntary licensing agreements with the four Indian companies, as well as Pakistan’s Ferozsons Laboratories, allowing them to make remdesivir for distribution in 127 countries which includes India, on a royalty-free basis until a new drug or vaccine is developed against the coronavirus.
In the wake of coronavirus, Cipla recently did a webinar which was attended by 6,000 doctors. Therefore, doctor outreach and engagement have become digital. Also, the OTC list for medicines in India is a smaller one, and therefore focus on consumer and OTC cannot replace the focus on conventional prescription medicines. The underlying model would have to remain the same.
Maharashtra has currently witnessed 33,053 active cases of coronavirus with 20,150 cases being in Mumbai itself.
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