Delhi High Court seeks Centre’s reply on Remdesivir

Plea seeks all companies be allowed to sell it in domestic market

Delhi High Court. File

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Centre and several pharmaceutical companies to respond to a petition seeking that all manufacturers of Remdesivir, used in COVID-19 treatment, be allowed to sell it in the domestic market.

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A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the Health Ministry, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Director General of Foreign Trade and various firms such as Cipla, Zydus and Cadila.

The plea claimed that only a handful of pharma companies are allowed to sell the medicine in the domestic market.

It claimed that there are more than 25 companies which manufacture the medicine, but only six to eight of them are permitted to sell it in the domestic market and the rest were producing it for exports alone.

It asked for direction to the remaining companies involved in manufacturing the drug for export to sell it in the domestic market.

“It is pertinent to mention that the scarcity of Remdesivir is causing its extensive black marketing and the black marketers are charging prices up to ₹1,00,000 per vial, due to its non-availability.”