Dr Reddy's inks pact with Gilead Sciences

Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd on Saturday announced it has entered into a non-exclusive Licensing Agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. that will grant the city-based drug maker right to register, manufacture and sell Gilead's investigational drug, Remdesivir, a potential treatment for Covid-19, in 127 countries including India.

Dr Reddy's will receive technology transfer from Gilead for manufacturing of this drug and needs to do the manufacturing scale up and obtain regulatory approval for marketing of this drug in respective countries, a press release from DRL said.

Remdesivir, an investigational antiviral therapy developed by Gilead, received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to treat hospitalised patients with severe Covid-19 illness. India currently does not manufacture Remdesivir.

The four companies - Hetero, Jubilant Life Sciences, Cipla and Mylan NV - with which Gilead Sciences Inc have earlier entered into non-exclusive licensing agreements are still awaiting permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for manufacturing and distribution Remdesivir in the country.