Glenmark’s FabiFlu, covid-19 medicine to treat mild to moderate coronavirus cases; price, availability

Glenmark’s FabiFlu, coronavirus medicine, to treat mild to moderate cases

In a major Coronavirus treatment breakthrough, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' FabiFlu is the first oral favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of COVID-19. Favipiravir can be used for coronavirus patients with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes and heart disease with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms hoping it will prevent the virus from multiplying in the patient's body. Doctors and health experts have asked people to be very careful and not do self medication. This is a prescription-based medication, with recommended dose being 1,800 mg twice daily on day one, followed by 800 mg twice daily up to day 14. It may also vary from case to case, so please do not try to treat yourself, it will do more harm than good.  

Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Saturday said it has launched antiviral drug Favipiravir, under the brand name FabiFlu, for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 at a price of about Rs 103 per tablet. The drug will be available as a 200 mg tablet at a maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 3,500 for a strip of 34 tablets, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said. FabiFlu is the first oral favipiravir-approved medication in India for the treatment of COVID-19, it added. Reports say that patients from more than 10 leading government and private hospitals were enrolled for the study.

Considering a minimum of two strips per patient, Glenmark said it will be able to provide FabiFlu for about 82,500 patients in the 1st month itself. They will then scale up and meet the healthcare needs of the country.

"It is not a magic bullet as it is not the only thing we have to give. This is not a specific drug made for COVID-19 and has been found to be useful, but how much it will be useful we will have to see. Real efficacy will be known when administered on a large scale," he told PTI.

"Best thing is that it is an oral drug, while Ramdesiver is an intravenous drug. It (Favipiravir) can be even taken at home. So even if it is giving some benefit, it will be quite useful," Dr Maurya said.

The Mumbai-based firm had on Friday received the manufacturing and marketing approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

The company has developed the API and the formulation for FabiFlu through its in-house research and development team. Favipiravir has proven in-vitro activity against SARS CoV2 virus, which is the virus responsible for COVID-19. Favipiravir had produced encouraging outcomes in clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzhen involving 340 patients. Patients who were given the medicine in Shenzhen turned negative for the virus after four days after becoming positive, compared with a median of 11 days for those who were not treated with the drug, public broadcaster NHK had said.

“It has a wide therapeutic safety margin for COVID-19 at the dose that we administer,” Glenmark Pharmaceuticals President India Formulations, Middle East and Africa Sujesh Vasudevan said at an online press conference.

It is an oral product which means, hospitalisation may not be necessary so it will take away the burden on the hospitals and healthcare staff to some extent. The medicine is said to result in the rapid reduction in viral load within four days and provides faster symptomatic and radiological improvement.

The approval’s restricted use entails responsible medication usage where every patient must have signed informed consent before treatment initiation, it added. Favipiravir can be used for coronavirus patients with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes and heart disease with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms, Glenmark said. It offers rapid reduction in viral load within four days and provides faster symptomatic and radiological improvement.

Favipiravir has shown clinical improvement of up to 88 per cent in mild to moderate COVID-19 cases, it said. Favipiravir has been approved in Japan since 2014 for the treatment of novel or re-emerging influenza virus infections. It remains to be seen whether this tablet becomes a game changer in the days to come.

 

Disclaimer: We do not advise any self-medication. This article is only for health news & information, not a medical document. Kindly consult a doctor in case you have any Covid-19 symptoms. 

(With PTI inputs)