13 Indian firms set to boost India's anti-Covid arsenal with a pill

The Subject Expert Committee in its meeting recommended the use of this drug to treat high-risk patients.

Thirteen Indian companies can now manufacture and market oral antiviral drug Molnupiravir developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics after the country’s drug regulator granted approval for restricted use under emergency situations for Covid-infected adults in high-risk category.

The approval for Molnupiravir assumes significance, as it can become an affordable oral treatment for Covid. The drug targets the part of the virus called ribonucleic acid polymerase, which has not changed much even after mutations in the Omicron variant.

The drug inhibits replication of the Sars-CoV-2 virus and has already been approved by the UK MHRA on November 4 and the US Food and