August 17: The Department of Drug Administration has given permission to three Indian companies to supply Remdesivir, a drug used for emergency treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Those Indian companies include Cipla, Hetero and Mylan.

Spokesperson at the department Santosh KC informed New Business Age that the representatives of those companies in Nepal can now import Remdesivir injection for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. The department has already prepared a work procedure for the import of the medicine.

Although Remdesivir is used in emergency cases, it is not proved an effective drug against Covid-19. Therefore, the department had to prepare a work procedure for its import. It took more than two months for the companies to get the permission to supply the drug.

The department informed that it had to get approval from the health ministry to implement the work procedure, so it took some time.

The department had sought permission from the ministry to import Remdesivir and Favipiravir on June 24. But the ministry approved import of only Remdesivir.

Altogether nine companies had filed application to supply the medicine out of which the department selected three companies.

Nepal Health Research Council had sent a letter to the department on Saturday to allow the import of Remdesivir for clinical trial on Covid-19 patients who are in critical condition. The department granted permission for the import after receiving the letter.