Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited has become the first Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company to be granted approval to manufacture molnupiravir, an oral medication used to treat Covid-19.
The pharmaceutical has been given a sub-license by the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for the local manufacture of the oral medicine created by MSD, a brand name of Merck & Co Inc.
MPP announced the partnership with Beximco after expanding its network of partnered generic manufacturers, said a press release on Thursday.
The sub-license deal is the outcome of a voluntary licensing agreement signed by the MPP and MSD in October 2021 to make molnupiravir, which MSD is developing in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, more affordable around the world.
MPP may sublicense the medicine's production to worldwide generic drug manufacturers under this agreement in order to assure a consistent supply in various parts of the world.
Molnupiravir is an oral antiviral to treat symptomatic Covid-19, which received conditional marketing authorization in the UK from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency on November 4 and received Emergency Use Authorization in the US from the US Food and Drug Administration on December 23 last year.
Beximco Pharma will manufacture molnupiravir in Bangladesh and is expected to start domestic distribution and export from the end of 2022, following successful technology transfer and manufacturing regulatory approvals under the license from MPP.
The company will continue to sell its own generic version of molnupiravir (Emorivir), as announced on November 9, 2021, under the World Trade Organization's Least Developed Country (LDC) waiver in the meantime.
