Hyd-based AVRA Labs develops new tech to reduce manufacturing cost of Favipiravir

Dr AV Rama Rao, founder of AVRA Pharmaceuticals, said: “The API, if it is imported from China, costs close to $2,000 per kg, which is about Rs 1.25 lakh.
Image used for representational purpose only (File Photo)
Image used for representational purpose only (File Photo)

HYDERABAD:  Hyderabad-based AVRA Laboratories has developed a low-cost process to manufacture an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that can be used to produce an anti-viral drug, which can be administered in Covid-19 treatment.

AVRA Laboratories received approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to supply the API to pharmaceutical behemoth Cipla for launching Ciplenza, the generic version of Favipiravir for treating Covid-19. An API is a substance or a combination of substances used in a finished pharmaceutical product (FPP). Speaking to Express, Dr AV Rama Rao, founder of AVRA Pharmaceuticals, said: “The API, if it is imported from China, costs close to $2,000 per kg, which is about Rs 1.25 lakh.

With our manufacturing process, the API will cost only Rs 76,000 per kg. We have now made 600 kg of the API with which Cipla can make about 30 lakh Ciplenza tablets.”  “To reduce the cost of the manufacturing process, we have changed the reagents and excipients. The cost of the reagents is lower than what other companies are using and therefore the cost of our manufacturing is also low. 

We have patented the entire procedure as it is a completely novel one to manufacture the API,” Dr Rama Rao. AVRA Laboratories was founded by Padma Bhushan awardee Dr AV Rama Rao, the former director of CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT). It was due to his efforts and that of his research group at CSIR-IICT, the institute developed anti-AIDS drugs for Cipla back in the 1990s.

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