Manufacturing of Remdesivir injection ramped up to 74 lakh vials per month

Amid the surge in demand for Remdesivir injection for COVID-19 treatment, the capacity of domestic Remdesivir manufacturers has been ramped up from 38 lakh vials per month to 74 lakh vials per month, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

According to a statement issued by the ministry, 20 additional manufacturing sites have also been approved by the Centre to ramp up the production of Remdesivir.

"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. All support is being extended to manufacturers by the government in this endeavour. The production capacity is being ramped up from current level of 38 lakh vials per month to 74 lakh vials per month, and 20 additional manufacturing sites have been approved," the ministry said.

"Export of Remdesivir has also been prohibited on April 11 in order to shore up domestic supplies. To further address reports of shortages in certain regions of the country and facilitate smooth inter-state supply of Remdesivir, we, in coordination with Department of Pharmaceuticals has made an interim allocation of Remdesivir for 19 States/UTs for the period up to April 30," it said.

Remdesivir being an investigational therapy drug given in acute versions of COVID-19 where oxygen support is a must, the O2 allocation pertains to 14 states to which medical oxygen is issued and 5 states where high volume of supplies are being observed, the ministry said.

The statement further said that Maharashtra has been allocated 2,69,218 vials, which is the highest, followed by Gujarat with 163,559 vials and Uttar Pradesh with 1,22,833 vials.

"Delhi has been allocated 61,900 vials, Madhya Pradesh 92,400, Chhattisgarh 48,250, Kerala 16,100, Karnataka 25,400 and Haryana 29,500," it addedd.

India recorded 2,95,041 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, according to official data on Wednesday.

India's total active caseload has reached 21,57,538 and as many as 2,023 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

( With inputs from ANI )