COVID-19 Cure: India will get First COVID-19 cheapest Drug at Rs.59 only! Brinton Pharma got DCGI nod to market “Faviton” for the treatment of COVID-19 Patients!

Due to the rapid surge in coronavirus cases, the world is now desperate to find methods to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to find effective treatments for the coronavirus infection. Brinton Pharmaceuticals Limited, one of India’s leading pharmaceutical companies that has triggered price competition, announced that it has been approved by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to produce and sell the antiviral drug Favipiravir for COVID-19 treatment under the brand name ‘Faviton‘.

On Thursday, Pune-based Brinton Pharmaceuticals affirmed in a statement that the ‘Faviton‘ drug will be sold in 200 mg tablets, with a maximum retail price of 59 rupees per tablet, which is slightly lower than Glenmark’s FabiFlu.

Faviton is a generic version of Avigan of Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Fujifilm Corporation. Earlier, Favipiravir drug was developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical in Japan gave assuring results in treating at least mild to moderate COVID-19 cases.

Glenmark earlier set the price of its FabiFlu at ₹103/pill, and then lowered the price to ₹75/pill, which is the lowest market cost compared to Favipiravir cost in other countries like 200 mg per tablet cost in Russia is Rs 600, in Bangladesh cost is Rs 350 in Japan cost is Rs 378, and in China cost is Rs 215.

Considering the growth in the number of cases with most patients showing mild to moderate viral load in the country, India is becoming a promising bet for Covid-19 drug producers.

Favorable clinical evidence emerging globally shows that Favipiravir is an effective treatment option for mild-to-moderate coronavirus patients. The company asserted in a statement that this is an oral administration drug, which is more convenient than intravenous administration drugs.

It is worth noting that Glenmark Pharmaceuticals internally developed the API and formulation for Favipiravir medicines. In April, Glenmark was one of the first leading companies to seek endorsement from regulatory agencies to conduct clinical trials of Favipiravir medicines in mild-to-moderate coronavirus patients.

After facing issues and questions on the pricing of its FabiFlu drug, Glenmark claimed that FabiFlu is more economical than other available drugs (including Tocilizumab, Remdesivir, and Itolizumab).

Brinton Pharmaceuticals acquainted that it would provide its drug in the form of 200 mg tablets and plans to export Faviton to worldwide. Faviton will be sold in packages of 10 and 50 tablets per box- a reasonable therapeutic package for COVID-19 treatment. The company stated that Faviton can be used for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 infection and has a 90-day shelf life.

Brinton Pharmaceuticals stated that in India, Favipiravir was first endorsed by the regulatory agency in June 2020 for emergency use for the treatment of coronavirus patients.

Brinton Pharma CMD, Rahul Kumar Darda, stated as a socially responsible corporation, we have always hoped to launch an evidence-based cure to combat Covid-19. Our strategic plan is to improve the scope of access through our strong distribution network, which will help make Faviton accessible in all COVID-19 treatment centers, and our MRP is 59 rupees per tablet.

To date, Covid-19 has claimed nearly 31,000 lives in India, bringing the total number of positive cases to 12,41,655. For the second consecutive day, the single-day highest recovery rate continued to rise sharply. In the past 24 hours, the highest single-day recovery and discharge of COVID-19 patients was reached at 29,557.

Although the total number of recovered cases jumped to 7,82,607, the recovery rate rose to 63.20%. The increase in the number of cured and discharged patients has led to a growing gap between the recovered cases and the total number of active cases, which were pegged at 3,56,440 on Thursday.

The coalition government continues to send a central team of experts to areas witnessing an increase in cases to coordinate with states and Union territories. Currently, India’s case fatality rate is 2.42% and it is still declining. This also helps to reduce the actual load of coronavirus cases which limiting it to only 4,26,167 active patients, said a statement from the Union health ministry.

Meanwhile, the “Made in India” non-invasive ventilator SwasthVayu is being developed by the Bangalore National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) in collaboration with Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Institute of Genomics and Integrated Biology (IGIB).

Public health experts called for further improvements in health infrastructure and making drugs available for COVID-19 patients. As the number of cases increases, our health infrastructure needs to be revamped or undergo major adjustments. In the future, those who would test positive may face serious conditions compared to the fact that many patients now remained live at home in the process of medication and recovery, stated by Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi University and Health economist, Arup Mitra.

The statement said Brinton is one of the few companies that will sell its drug at the cheapest price in India and will also export Faviton globally.