New Delhi: The Central government on Wednesday made an interim allocation of Remdesivir for 19 states including Odisha and UTs having high burden of COVID-19 cases for the period from April 21 to 30.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a release, said keeping in mind the sudden surge in demand in the country for Remdesivir injection required for COVID-19 therapy, the manufacturing capacity of domestic Remdesivir manufacturers has been ramped up.
The production capacity is being ramped up from current level of 38 lakh vials per month to 74 lakh vials, and 20 additional manufacturing sites have been approved. Export of Remdesivir has also been prohibited.
To further address reports of shortages in certain regions and facilitate smooth inter-state supply of Remdesivir, the Ministry in coordination with Department of Pharmaceuticals has made an interim allocation of Remdesivir for 19 states and UTs for the period upto April 30.
Remdesivir being an investigational therapy drug given in acute and severe versions of COVID-19 where oxygen support is a must, this allocation pertains to 14 States to which medical oxygen is allocated and 5 other states where the high volume of supplies are being observed.
Odisha, which comes under the second category, has been allocated total 11,100 vials for the period. It includes 1,000 vials of Zydus Cadilla, 4,500 of Hetero, 1,600 of Mylan, 1,500 of Cypla, and 2,500 vials of Jubilant.