Like Covid-19 Jabs, States Will Have to Procure Remdesivir On Their Own; Govt Discontinues Central Allocation

Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday announced that the government has decided to discontinue the central allocation of Remdesivir to States. He has directed the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Agency and CDSCO to continuously monitor the availability of Remdesivir in the country.

“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 (sic),” he tweeted.

Mandaviya also informed that the production of Remdesivir has been ramped up ten times from 33,000 vials a day on April 11 to 3,50,000 vials per day.

Till last week, the government had allocated 98.87 lakh vials of the antiviral drug to states and union territories. An additional 22.17 lakh vials of the drug, which is being used in the treatment of Covid-19, had been allocated to states for the period May 23 to May 30.

Mandaviya said that 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, he added.

The government of India has also decided to procure 50 lakh vials of Remdesivir to maintain it as a strategic stock for the emergency requirement, he added.

The government has already waived customs duty on Remdesivir, its raw materials and other components used to make the antiviral drug in order to help augment domestic availability and reduce the cost of the injection. On April 11, the Centre banned the export of the injection and its APIs till the situation improves.

Various drug companies have also cut the prices of Remdesivir injection following the intervention of the government.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram.