BDR Pharmaceuticals, a Mumbai based drug company, on Wednesday announced the launch of its antiviral drug Favipiravir for the treatment of coronavirus patients in India. The drug has been launched under the brand name ‘BDFAVI’. The ‘BDFAVI’ drug is available as 200 mg tablets in the form of a strip of 10 tablets, and priced at Rs 630 per strip, BDR Pharmaceuticals said. The company has also come up with a patient assistance programme which will allow patients and institutions who have limited resources to purchase the medicine at a highly subsidised rate, the BDR Pharma said in a statement.

BDR Pharma has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to manufacture Favipiravir to treat mild to moderate patients with COVID-19 symptoms. Favipiravir was originally developed by Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp under the brand name Avigan for treating influenza. “BDR has been at the forefront in benefiting patients in this pandemic and supporting India’s fight against COVID-19.

This launch further strengthens our commitment to the patients to provide better outcomes for patients with mild to moderate COVID symptoms in India,” BDR Pharmaceuticals CMD Dharmesh Shah said. Separately, pharma major Lupin Limited also announced the launch of its Favipiravir in India under the brand name Covihalt for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19. It is available as 200 mg tablets in the form of a strip of 10 tablets and priced at Rs. 49 per tablet.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma had said it has launched antiviral drug Favipiravir under the brand name ‘FluGuard’ for the treatment of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, at Rs 35 per tablet in India.