Eli Lilly and Company (LLY.N) announced that it has entered licencing arrangements with three Indian generic drugmakers to expand the availability of its arthritis medicine baricitinib for COVID-19 patients in the nation.
The deals would strengthen India's medication arsenal as it fights the devastating second wave of the pandemic, which has resulted in a severe scarcity of coronavirus treatments such as remdesivir and tocilizumab.
Cipla Ltd (CIPL.NS), Lupin Ltd (LUPN.NS), and Sun Pharma (SUN.NS), three Indian pharmaceutical companies, will work with Lilly to manufacture and commercialise baricitinib in India.
According to an emailed statement from Eli Lilly, baricitinib has been granted restricted emergency use authorisation by India's pharma authority for use in conjunction with remdesivir for the treatment of hospitalised COVID-19 adult patients who require supplementary oxygen.
In November, the US Food and Drug Administration granted Lilly an emergency use permission for baricitinib in conjunction with remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients.
"More licences to additional Indian generic manufacturers are scheduled to be announced shortly," said Luca Visini, managing director of Lilly India, without going into further detail.
The country's drugmakers' COVID-19 medicine portfolio would be expanded as a result of these agreements. Favipiravir, an antiviral medication used to treat individuals with COVID-19, is available from all three businesses.
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