Cipla Collaborates With Government Agencies – CSIR, IICT, ICMR
According to the chairman of the drug major Cipla, YK Hamied, the company is ramping up the production of various life saving essential drugs and is working with government agencies to develop a treatment for COVID-19.
Hamied said that the company is at the forefront in the fight against COVID-19, sharing information with the company’s shareholders in the drug firm’s annual report for 2019-20.
He added saying, “To develop medications for the treatment of COVID-19, Cipla is collaborating with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Ministry of Health and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT).”
Additionally, the company in partnership with its global partners is offering drugs, which have shown potency in treating COVID-19. The company offers a wide range of drugs in its portfolio giving relief and improving treatment access through the company’s strategic global partnerships. This is particularly true with the life-saving vital drugs such as tocilizumab, remdesivir, and favipiravir.
Hamied said the company is ramping up manufacturing of drugs for chronic ailments such as COPD, asthma, along with scaling up the production of medicines that show potency against the
virus — Azithromycin, Hydroxychloroquine, and lopinavir-Ritonavir.He added that the need for every nation to be self-reliant has been highlighted by the effects of the ongoing pandemic. Hamied noted that Cipla’s pledge to provide universal access to affordable medicines, its philosophy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency has become even more critical today.
He said that the availability and manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients known as APIs are the foundation and backbone of the pharma industry. In order to boost the development of the industry, the government along with the industry must set up its priorities on the availability of essential drugs and give suitable incentives to the industry.
He added that Cipla looks forward to extending its whole-hearted support to the government in this initiative having many decades of expertise in the manufacturing of bulk APIs.
For various critical diseases over the years, the drug major has come up with solutions. Hamied pointed out the company’s prowess in developing cost-effective medicines for life-threatening diseases as the company had Cipla brought in the drugs for HIV/AIDS and subsequently drugs for pandemic diseases in early 2001.
For HIV/AIDS patients, the world’s first triple anti-retroviral drug combination, Triomune, was developed by the company in 2001 and offered it at below USD 1 per day. Hamied noted that the medication opened the door for the treatment of HIV/AIDS particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and across third world countries. Over the years, millions have been treated in Africa as a result. He added saying that nearly two-thirds of the world’s antiretroviral drugs are supplied from India, and around 25.4 million people (67 percent) out of 38 million people living with HIV/AIDS globally have had access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the end of 2019. Additionally, the company has developed drugs and has helped in the fight against infectious diseases like swine flu, bird flu, and anthrax.
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Cipla Collaborates With Government Agencies – CSIR, IICT, ICMR
