Incepta to produce Covid drug molnupiravir

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh, is going to produce Covid-19 treatment drug molnupiravir.

It received a sub-licence to manufacture the oral drug from MSD, the US drug-maker, through the Medicine Patent Pool (MPP), said the Bangladeshi company in a press release yesterday.

The MPP is an UN-backed organisation that negotiates public health-driven licences with patent-holders, and sub-licences to generic manufacturers to encourage the sale of low-cost generic versions of medicines.

Molnupiravir received approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last November and the US FDA emergency use authorisation in December for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease in adults with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing.

The drug is also used to treat the patients at high risk for progression to severe Covid-19, including hospitalisation or death, and for whom alternative treatment options authorised by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate.

MSD and the MPP have given the sub-licence to facilitate affordable global access for molnupiravir use in 105 low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh.

Incepta Pharmaceuticals has stringent regulatory authority approved or World Health Organisation pre-qualified manufacturing facilities and experiences as a major supplier to global and key low and middle-income procurers.

Abdul Muktadir, chairman and managing director of Incepta, said: "Incepta can supply this product from two of its facilities."

One of the facilities is approved by UK authorities and another by German authorities.

"We have initially allocated 90 million capsules capacity for this product. But if required, we can allocate much more."

"We believe we can become a global hub for low-cost production of this kind of products and can play a major role in the effort to end this pandemic," Muktadir said in the press release.