3 local cos allowed to produce Covid pill

Beximco, Eskayef, Square get DGDA approval

Staff Correspondent: The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has issued production and marketing authorisation for the Covid-19 drug molnupiravir to pharmaceutical companies-Beximco, Eskayef and Square in the country.
DGDA Director General Major General Mahbubur Rahman told reporters about the development at a press conference yesterday. Apart from them, seven other pharmaceutical companies are on the approval list, said DGDA director.
The companies are: Square, General, Beacon, Reneta, Incepta, Acme, Health Care, and Popular Pharmaceuticals.
These drugs are not necessarily a substitute for vaccines, said the health official, adding that people must receive the jabs. But they can receive this antiviral tablet on advice of a physician.
Regarding the use of the drug, he further said that this oral drug is a five-day dose. Four tablets in the morning and four tablets at night. A total of forty tablets should be taken in five days.
The price of each capsule has been fixed at Tk50, the DGDA director added.
However, Beximco told that the price of each piece of medicine would be Tk70. Molnupiravir is currently under review by several other regulatory authorities, including the European Medicines Agency and the United States Food and Drug Administration.
As an oral treatment that can be administered at home, molnupiravir, has the potential to have a significant impact on the treatment paradigm for Covid-19.
For instance, it may reduce the need for infected patients to visit medical facilities, therefore also reducing the risk of infecting others.
Data published by MSD suggest that it may cut the risk of hospitalisation and death by half, with 7.3 percent of molnupiravir patients being taken to the hospital after 29 days compared to 14.1 percent of patients who were treated with placebo.
Molnupiravir works by interfering with the replication of the virus. This prevents it from multiplying, keeping virus levels low in the body and therefore reducing the severity of the disease.