Bangladesh drug makers authorized for emergency production & marketing of anti-COVID oral durg ’Molnupiravir’
Source：The Daily Star
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Dhaka
Update Time：2021/12/24
A fifth drugmaker -- Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd -- received authorisation on Nov. 10, for the emergency production and marketing of molnupiravir, said a senior official of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA).
Earlier, the DGDA gave approval to Eskayef, Beximco, Square and Renata to make the anti-Covid pill.
Five other drugmakers are in line to get the same approval, said Md Salauddin, director of the DGDA.
Of those, the ACI received permission to produce molnupiravir, according to a letter issued by the DGDA yesterday.
The company will now need to submit a sample along with relevant documents and if it passes the quality test, the DGDA will provide emergency use and marketing authorisation.
The ACI will roll out the drug under the brand name "Melovir".
Developed by American pharmaceutical Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, the pills are designed to be taken as soon as possible after a positive coronavirus test and within five days of the onset of symptoms.
During that time the virus replicates rapidly and the immune system is yet to mount a defence.
Patients need to take four capsules twice a day for five days, with the full course costing Tk 2,000.
On Nov. 16, The Bangladeshi Directorate General of Health Services has instructed all public hospitals to prescribe oral anti-Covid drug Molnupiravir yesterday.
The development comes over a week after the drug administration gave emergency production and usage approval to the world's first oral anti-Covid drug in the local market.
"We have instructed all public hospitals that physicians can use the drug to treat Covid-19 adult patients with mild to moderate symptoms. It cannot be used by patients with severe symptoms," Farid Hossain Mian, director of hospitals and clinics at the DGHS, told The Daily Star.
On November 8, the drug administration gave emergency production and usage approval to multiple drug-makers in the country.
The drug, however, must be used within five days of showing symptoms in a patient, Farid said.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/