COVID-19: BFBL says to supply ‘Remdesivir’ in Pakistani and other 126 countries

KARACHI: BF Biosciences Limited (BFBL), a subsidiary of Ferozsons Laboratories Limited, Monday announced that it will supply Remdesivir (medicine) in Pakistan and other 126 countries.

It is in negotiations to enter into a non-exclusive license agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. for the manufacture and sale of remdesivir to supply Pakistan and 126 other countries under Gilead’s Global Patient Solutions Program serving the developing world.

In its announcement at PSX, the BFBL said, “there is no obligation at this time for any party to execute any transaction.”

Remdesivir doesn’t cure coronavirus. But it is an experimental drug, which may speed up recovery from a COVID-19 infection, is currently the best treatment the Gilead Sciences have against a virus that’s on a global rampage.

Remdesivir has been granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 disease, the company said.

The optimal duration of treatment is still being studied in ongoing clinical trials. Under the EUA, both 5-day and 10-day treatment durations are suggested, based on the severity of disease.

“If an agreement is executed by Gilead and BFBL, once production starts, we are confident that we will have sufficient quantities over time to serve the needs of the patients in Pakistan,” the company said.

However, at the moment we are uncertain as to the timelines for first launch as an agreement remains to be executed, and thereafter local regulatory approvals and sourcing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) for manufacturing remdesivir may take some time.

BFBL management is actively taking up the matter with the relevant stakeholders so that remdesivir is made available to patients in Pakistan on an urgent basis, it said.

Since its inception, Putting Patients First has been at the core of Ferozsons’ corporate philosophy.

According to the international news, Gilead Sciences, Inc. had announced top results from the open-label, Phase 3 Simple trial evaluating 5-day and 10-day dosing durations of the investigational antiviral remdesivir in hospitalized patients with severe manifestations of COVID-19 disease.

The report said that the study demonstrated that patients receiving a 10-day treatment course of remdesivir achieved similar improvement in clinical status compared with those taking a 5-day treatment course. No new safety signals were identified with remdesivir across either treatment group.

For over six decades, Ferozsons has been providing quality branded generic pharmaceutical products at affordable prices along with introduction of novel therapies in Pakistani market through partnerships with reputed international organizations including with Gilead Sciences for the treatment of HIV, Hepatitis B and C in Pakistan.

About The Author