The production capacity of remdesivir used for the treatment of COVID-19 has increased from 38 lakh vials per month to nearly 1.19 crore vials per month, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said.

Remdesivir is manufactured in India under voluntary licenses granted by Gilead Life Sciences to seven pharma companies — Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, Hetero, Jubilant Pharma, Mylan, Syngene and Zydus Cadila, it added.

To augment the domestic production capacity, all the seven manufacturers of remdesivir in the country were asked to ramp up production quickly, the ministry said in a statement.

“With the combined efforts of the central government and the manufacturing companies, the production capacity of the licensed manufacturers has increased unprecedentedly from 38 lakh vials per month to nearly 119 lakh vials per month,” it added.

With the accelerated approval of 38 additional manufacturing sites, the number of approved manufacturing sites of remdesivir in the country has increased from 22 sites to 60 sites, the statement said.

With the help of the Ministry of External Affairs, the manufacturers of remdesivir are being facilitated for getting supplies of requisite raw materials and equipment from foreign countries, it noted.

All efforts are being made to enhance the availability of the drug through imports as well as augmented domestic production, the ministry said.

Exports of remdesiver have been prohibited since April 11, 2021. Customs duty has been exempted on remdesivir injection, remdesivir API and Beta Cyclodextrin used in the manufacture of remdesivir with effect from April 20, 2021, it noted.