Generic drug companies in no hurry to launch new Covid products

July 13, 2022:

After taking progressive measures in the last two years, Indian generic drugmakers are going slow in investing further on Covid-related products as the momentum begins to shift to other therapies, some pharmaceutical industry executives told ET.

Dharmesh Shah, managing director of BDR Pharmaceuticals, said his company is not in a hurry to launch anything related to Covid-19 as cases begin to ebb.

India on Tuesday witnessed a dip in the daily Covid-19 cases as the country reported 13,615 new cases in 24 hours, down from 16,678 cases on Monday.

BDR Pharmaceuticals, a Mumbai-based active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing company, has developed the API of antiviral pill Paxlovid and can manufacture the drug but it has decided to wait and watch, Shah said. "We will see if there is any need in the country to launch it," he told ET. "At present, cases are mild and are recovering with the conventional treatment."

BDR Pharmaceuticals was one of the first Indian companies to produce Remdesivir- used to treat Covid-19 in hospitalised patients.

However, Shah said, tonnes of material of antiviral pill molnupiravir got wasted.

"Therefore, we are not in a hurry to launch products," he said. "We are evaluating the situation and will jump only if there is any emergency or in case the country sees a surge."

Mankind Pharmaceuticals executive chairman RC Juneja, too, said the company is treading carefully as it has already incurred losses and will have to destroy a lot of products that are nearing expiry.

"We have, therefore, decided not to invest further in Covid-related therapies or products unless there is any high demand," Juneja said. ET Health