Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has launched the first-ever COVID-19 vaccine in the country on Saturday. Launched under the brand name “FabiFlu”, the drug company got the approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting the Phase-3 COVID-19 Clinical Trials.
FabiFlu is the first-ever produced oral Favipiravir-approved medication against the stoppage of the Coronavirus outbreak. “The antiviral drug will be used for treating COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms”, the company said.
The Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company got the nod from the DCGI on Friday and soon began the testing on the infectious virus in their confined laboratories in Maharashtra. Going through a tough time, the company got approval for under the emergency category.
“This approval comes at a time when cases in India are spiraling like never before, putting tremendous pressure on our healthcare system,” Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Chairman and Managing Director Glenn Saldanha said.
Indian Government Has Shared Guidelines For The Use of FabiFlu
With the ever-growing pandemic in the country, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and the Indian government together wants to start the usage of the drug immediately. As per the official guidelines released, each tablet weighs 200 mg and costs Rs 103 apiece.
Buying a strip of the tablets will provide the buyer with a total of 34 tablets and costs Rs 3,500. The recommended dosage is 1,800 mg twice on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14. It offers a rapid reduction in the viral load, the company said.
According to Glenmark, the drug will be made available at all hospitals and chemist shops and will be sold under the doctor’s prescription only. Currently, the company is taking care of the end-to-end processes of the medication.
This will include the manufacturing API and development of a formulation to manufacturing and finally the marketing and supply. Company officials want to take any further stress off of the hospitals as they have already to deal with.
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The Glenmark Drug Reduces Infection Up To 88 percent
FabiFlu, as by the official data, is known to provide clinical improvement up to 88% in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. It has been approved by Japan for the treatment of novel or influenza viral infections. Meanwhile, for severe patients, further testing is to be done.
One important fact that the company did share is that the approval is under the emergency category due to the pandemic. So any patient requiring a dose of the tablets has to give an undertaking before consuming the medicine.
India reported a major hike with 14,516 coronavirus cases and 375 death cases in the last 24 hours. This takes the total tally on Saturday to 3,95,048 and 2,13,831 people who have been fully recovered. Stay tuned for further updates.
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