Biocon COVID-19 Drug Price Revealed
Priced At Rs 8,000 Per Vial
Biocon, the Indian biopharmaceutical company said that for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19 patients, it will launch biologic drug Itolizumab at a price of around 8,000 per vial.
For the treatment of cytokine release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused due to COVID-19, Bicon has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to market Itolizumab injection 25mg/5mL solution for emergency use in India.
Biocon had earlier said in a regulatory filing that for treating patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 complications, Itolizumab is the first novel biologic therapy to be approved anywhere in the world.
In a virtual press conference, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon Executive Chairperson said that life-saving drugs are certainly in need until a vaccine comes. In order to treat this pandemic, researchers across the world are seeing how they can either repurpose drugs or develop new drugs.
She added that we must be in a state of preparedness, as there is no guarantee that a vaccine will work the way we expect it to work even if we get a vaccine by the end of this year or early
next year and there no guarantee that there will not be reinfection.Mazumdar-Shaw said that the overall cost of the therapy is around Rs 32,000, as most patients need 4 vials, and the cost per vial is Rs 7,950.
When asked if the company, on account of the pandemic, is ramping up the capacity to manufacture more vials, she said: “The supply and distribution network and the manufacturing capacity are in place, but, to meet the expected surge in demand, we are looking to ramp up production capacity post this approval. Reaching a larger number of patients across the country is our aim.”
At the company’s bio-manufacturing facility at Biocon Park, Bengaluru, the drug will be manufactured and formulated as an intravenous injection.
Talking about the steps the company is taking to ensure the availability of the drug, Mazumdar-Shaw said: As per protocol against a medical prescription and patient consent form, we will be supplying it to hospitals, and alzumab is already in the market. Biocon wants to ensure Itolizumab first reaches those patients who need them the most as there is a huge demand currently.”
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Biocon COVID-19 Drug Price Revealed
