Strides Pharma Science Limited, a global pharmaceutical company today announced that it has developed and commercialized Favipiravir Antiviral tablets. The product is a generic version of Avigan® of Toyama Chemical, Japan.

Favipiravir is an antiviral medication that was initially developed to treat influenza in Japan. In February 2020, post the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus(COVID-19), Favipiravir was studied in China and several other countries as an experimental treatment of COVID-19. The drug has demonstrated positive outcomes, including a reduction in the duration of COVID-19 and improved lung conditions for the patients.

Strides has developed Favipiravir tablets in 400mg and 200mg strengths for convenient dosage administration. The product is currently being exported to GCC countries to treat patients under their treatment program for COVID-19. Strides will also immediately apply to Indian Drug Authorities to commence necessary studies and make the drug available to Indian patients expeditiously.

Favipiravir tablets are being manufactured at Strides’ flagship facility in Bangalore, India. The facility can produce up to 6 billion units of solid orals annually and is approved by USFDA, MHRA, WHO, TGA among others. Strides has also entered into a preferred arrangement with a leading Indian API manufacturer for the supplies of Favipiravir API. The partner has already commercialized the Favipiravir API from its USFDA, KFDA, PMDA and WHO approved manufacturing facility and has capabilities to manufacture the Favipiravir API from its Key Starting Material (KSM) in-house.

Commenting on the development, Dr R Ananthanarayanan, CEO and Managing Director, stated “We are pleased to be the First Indian Company to develop and commercially launch Favipiravir tablets for the global markets. This development reinforces our commitment to play a substantial role in society by bringing affordable and quality healthcare to millions of people around the globe. Favipiravir has already demonstrated positive outcomes in several studies on COVID-19 patients, and we are hopeful that the treatment regime with Favipiravir would brace up our fight against this virus.

He further added, “Favipiravir is a complex drug to make, while we are manufacturing the tablets in-house, we are also excited to partner with the API manufacturer such that our supply chain remains secured up to the key starting material.”

Strides is amongst the leading Indian suppliers of drugs in the anti-retroviral, anti-malarial, Hepatitis and other infectious disease drug segments. The Company has always been on the forefront in the fight against global pandemics and commercialized many antivirals to bring the best treatments at an affordable cost to patients world over. Strides is also an approved supplier to Institutionally-funded aid projects and Global Procurement Agencies like USAID, Global Fund, PEPFAR (The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), UNICEF, WHO, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), United Nations Development Program(UNDP), Population Services International (PSI), Chemeonics, PFSCM, amongst others.

Strides, listed on the BSE Limited (532531) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (STAR), is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bangalore, India. The Company mainly operates in the regulated markets and has an “in Africa for Africa” strategy along with an institutional business to service donor-funded markets. The Company’s global manufacturing sites are located in India- Bangalore (two locations), Pondicherry, and Chennai, Singapore, Italy- Milan, Kenya- Nairobi and United States-Florida. The Company focusses on “difficult to manufacture” products that are sold in over 100 countries.