Eskayef gets approval for emergency marketing of oral antiviral molnupiravir

The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has given Eskayef Pharmaceuticals, a leading drug manufacturer of the country, the approval for emergency marketing of molnupiravir, an oral antiviral for Covid-19.

Along with Eskayef, another drug manufacturer Beximco Pharmaceuticals also received the approval of marketing the antiviral pill.

Director general of the DGDA Md Mahbubur Rahman announced this at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Mahbubur Rahman said Beximco and Eskayef have been given the approval of emergency marketing molnupiravir so far. Besides, eight other drug manufacturing companies are awaiting approval. The price has been fixed at Tk 50 a capsule, he added.

The UK government approved the new drug last week. Production of the oral antiviral for Covid-19, molnupiravir, has started in the country.

US drug companies Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics jointly developed molnupiravir to treat Covid-19. Seventeen countries including UK, USA, Canada and France ran clinical trial of the drug.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the drug on 4 November.

The European Medicine Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reviewing the approval of the drug.