COVID-19 Battle: Strides Pharma develops, commercializes global sale of Antiviral Favipiravir

Bangalore: Strides Pharma Science Limited, a global pharmaceutical company has announced that it has developed and commercialized Favipiravir Antiviral tablets. The product is a generic version of Avigan® of Toyama Chemical, Japan.

Favipiravir is an antiviral medication that was initially developed to treat influenza in Japan.

"In February 2020, post the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus(Covid-19), Favipiravir was studied in China and several other countries as an experimental treatment of Covid-19. The drug has demonstrated positive outcomes, including a reduction in the duration of Covid-19 and improved lung conditions for the patients," the Company said

Strides has developed Favipiravir tablets in 400mg and 200mg strengths for convenient dosage administration.

"The product is currently being exported to GCC countries to treat patients under their treatment program for Covid-19. Strides will also immediately apply to Indian Drug Authorities to commence necessary studies and make the drug available to Indian patients expeditiously," Strides Stated

"Favipiravir tablets are being manufactured at Strides' flagship facility in Bangalore, India. The facility can produce up to 6 billion units of solid orals annually and is approved by USFDA, MHRA, WHO, TGA among others. Strides has also entered into a preferred arrangement with a leading Indian API manufacturer for the supplies of Favipiravir API. The partner has already commercialized the Favipiravir API from its USFDA, KFDA, PMDA, and WHO approved manufacturing facility and has capabilities to manufacture the Favipiravir API from its Key Starting Material (KSM) in-house," Release added

Commenting on the development, Dr. R Ananthanarayanan, CEO and Managing Director, stated "We are pleased to be the First Indian Company to develop and commercially launch Favipiravir tablets for the global markets. This development reinforces our commitment to play a substantial role in society by bringing affordable and quality healthcare to millions of people around the globe. Favipiravir has already demonstrated positive outcomes in several studies on Covid-19 patients, and we are hopeful that the treatment regime with Favipiravir would brace up our fight against this virus. He further added, "Favipiravir is a complex drug to make, while we are manufacturing the tablets in-house, we are also excited to partner with the API manufacturer such that our supply chain remains secured up to the key starting material."

Read also: Strides gets USFDA nod for Flucytosine Capsules