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Beximco to produce Pfizer’s Covid-19 drug locally

By The Economist

Beximco Pharmaceuticals has received a sublicence from the Medicines Patent Pool, a United Nations-backed public health organisation, to produce Pfizer's breakthrough Covid-19 drug Paxlovid.

The pharmaceutical giant said it will manufacture the drug – which is an antiviral combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir – in Bangladesh after its successful technology transfer and manufacturing regulatory approvals. "We are already producing this drug," Rabbur Reza, chief operating officer at the company, told The Business Standard.


"We will convert the Pfizer technology by December. Because of this agreement, now we will supply the drug to 95 low- and middle-income countries," he added. The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is working with an aim to increase poor countries' access to drugs.

Clinical trial data has shown the pill, sold under the brand name Paxlovid, reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death from Covid by 89% if taken within three days of the onset of symptoms, reports ABC News on 18 March. Paxlovid is currently given as three pills twice daily over the course of five days. The cost to complete the five-day course will be Tk16,000 ($179) in Bangladesh compared to $700 in the international market. However, Beximco said the price will gradually decrease.

Earlier on 20 January 2022, Beximco was granted a sublicence by the MPP to produce another Covid-19 drug, molnupiravir, which was developed by MSD and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. "We are delighted that MPP has granted Beximco Pharma a sub-licence to produce Pfizer's breakthrough Covid-19 treatment, which builds on the licence granted to the company in January 2022 for the production of molnupiravir," said Nazmul Hassan MP, managing director at Beximco Pharma. "This further collaboration with MPP is a testament to our commitment to providing a broad selection of affordable treatments to combat Covid-19 in low- and middle-income countries, as well as our strong reputation as a producer of high-quality generic medicines," he added.

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