India, Hyderabad, 27th April 2021: Hetero, one of India’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies and the world’s largest producer of anti-retroviral drugs, announced today that it has entered into a non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with MSD for the manufacturing and distribution of investigational oral therapeutic antiviral drug ‘Molnupiravir’ for the treatment of Covid-19. Under this licensing deal, Hetero will be allowed to expand access of Molnupiravir in India and in other low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), following the approvals for emergency use authorization by local regulatory agencies.
Molnupiravir is an investigational oral antiviral agent currently being studied in a Phase 3 trial for the treatment of non-hospitalized patients with confirmed Covid-19. MSD is developing Molnupiravir in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
Dr. B. Partha Saradhi Reddy, Chairman, Hetero Group of Companies,commented: “Hetero has partnered with MSD to enable access of Molnupiravir for Covid-19 to the Indian population at this much important time to fight the pandemic. We are vertically integrated to manufacture and commercially ready to supply this product to patients swiftly across the country. We will be immediately approaching the DCGI to seek regulatory pathway and emergency use authorization. We remain committed to the global fight against the pandemic and will continue to provide access to potential therapies for Covid-19 treatment.”
Molnupiravir will be manufactured in our world-class formulation facility in Hyderabad, India, which has been approved by stringent global regulatory authorities such as USFDA and EU, among others.
About Molnupiravir
Molnupiravir (EIDD-2801/MK-4482) is an investigational, orally bioavailable form of a potent ribonucleoside analog that inhibits the replication of multiple RNA viruses including SARS-CoV2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Molnupiravir has been shown to be active in several models of SARS-CoV-2, including for prophylaxis, treatment and prevention of transmission, as well as SARS-CoV-1 and MERS. EIDD-2801 was invented at Drug Innovations at Emory (DRIVE), LLC, a not-for-profit biotechnology company wholly owned by Emory University. Since licensed by Ridgeback, all funds used for the development of EIDD-2801 by Ridgeback have been provided by Wayne and Wendy Holman and MSD.
About Hetero
Hetero is one of India’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies and the world’s largest producer of anti-retroviral drugs. Backed by 27+ years of expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, Hetero’s strategic business areas spread across APIs, Global generics, biosimilars and custom pharmaceutical services. The company is globally recognized for its strengths in Research and Development, manufacturing and commercialization of a wide range of products.
Hetero has 36 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities strategically located worldwide, approved by stringent global regulatory authorities. Our portfolio includes 300 plus products encompassing major therapeutic categories such as HIV/AIDS, Oncology, Cardiovascular, Neurology, Hepatitis, Nephrology, Urology, Diabetes, Ophthalmology, Hepatology and Immunology etc.
Hetero has a strong global presence in over 126 countries and focusses on making affordable medicines accessible to patients worldwide.
Hetero is one of the largest manufacturers of generic Remdesivir globally and its brand ‘Covifor’ (Remdesivir) has been supplied to more than 2 million patients globally.
For more information on Hetero, please visit www.heteroworld.com.
Hetero Media Contact:
Jeyasingh Balakrishnan
Head – Corporate Communications
Hetero Labs Limited
Mobile: +91 9989626541/ +91 9833836185
Email: Jeyasingh.b@heterodrugs.com
Caution Notice
Please beware of fake online pharmacies. Kindly note that Hetero does not engage in any form of online distribution or retailing of medicines. Hetero and its group subsidiaries supply the products worldwide, only through their exclusive distribution networks.
