Glenmark cuts price of Covid drug FabiFlu by 27% within a month of launch

Higher yields and better scale allowed a price cut, said Company

Mumbai-based Glenmark has slashed the price of its anti-viral oral medication favipiravir by 27 per cent within a month of its launch in India. The company said it had started a post-marketing surveillance (PMS) study on its brand FabiFlu to monitor the efficacy and safety of the drug in 1,000 patients. 

A price war is expected in favipiravir, with several companies gearing up for the launch of the drug in the Indian market. Players like Strides, Cipla-BDR Pharma, Optimus Pharma (contract manufacture for local companies), Lupin are considering launching their own variants. 

On Monday, Glenmark announced a price cut of 27 per cent for FabiFlu, which will now cost Rs 75 per tablet. The company said the price reduction had been made possible through benefits gained from higher yields and better scale, as both the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and formulations are made at Glenmark’s facilities in India, the benefits of which are being passed on to patients in the country.

Glenmark has developed API and the formulation for FabiFlu through its in-house R&D team. The API is manufactured at the Gujarat production facility and the formulation product is made at the facility in Himachal Pradesh. 

According to Alok Malik, senior vice-president and head-India business of Glenmark, the internal research shows that the company has launched FabiFlu in India at the lowest market cost, compared to the cost of favipiravir in other countries. 

The company claimed that despite investing significantly in R&D, it kept the prices low, compared to the international prices. In India, FabiFlu was originally priced at Rs 103 per tablet. Glenmark said it was Rs 600 per tablet in Russia, and Rs 378 per tablet in Japan. Even in Bangladesh, favipiravir is priced at Rs 350 per tablet, while in China it is priced at Rs 215 per tablet. This is for 200 mg tablets. 

Glenmark has completed phase-III clinical studies, with favipiravir in mild-to-moderate Covid-19 patients in India. The results from the study will be out soon. 

The Drug Controller General of India had given manufacturing and marketing approval to Glenmark to launch oral favipiravir (under brand name FabiFlu) to treat mild-to-moderate Covid-19 patients. The approval has been granted, based on evaluation of the data and in consultation with the subject expert committee, as part of the accelerated approval process. 

Malik said, “We expect PMS study to shed more light on the drug’s clinical effectiveness and safety in a large cohort of patients. Our priority from the start of this pandemic has been to offer patients in India an effective treatment for Covid-19, while also ensuring accessibility to the masses.”

Glenmark is also conducting another phase-III clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of two antivirals favipiravir and umifenovir as a combination therapy in moderate hospitalised adult Covid patients in India. The combination study, which is called the FAITH trial, is looking to enrol 158 hospitalised patients of moderate Covid in India.

“Early treatment with combination therapy will be evaluated for safety and efficacy, as it is emerging as an effective approach in shortening the duration of virus-shedding, facilitating early clinical cure and discharge,” the firm said.