A pricing war? Cipla pips Hetero, fixes remdesivir under Rs 5,000

A senior government official said it is in wait-and-watch mode and has not decided to take any suo motu action on the pricing of the drug

The pricing war for antiviral drug remdesivir has begun in the domestic pharmaceutical market. Two Indian drug majors — Cipla and Hetero Healthcare — have come out with the final pricing of their products. 

Hetero has priced the injectable drug at Rs 5,400 per 100 mg vial. Cipla said it would price its generic version of Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug for use in Covid-19 patients at less than Rs 5,000 per vial. Each patient will need six vials for the course of treatment. 

Commenting on the drug’s pricing, a spokesperson for Cipla said, “In line with our overall philosophy of driving access