Gilead Sciences, which owns the patent to the drug, has licensed it to six Indian drugmakers, allowing them to produce generic versions. But only limited production has begun.AdvertisementPolice in the financial hub of Mumbai and in the southern city of Hyderabad said they have arrested, in all, 14 people for selling the drug on the black market for as much as 30,000 rupees a dose, compared with the maximum retail price of 5,400 rupees.
Police seized 23 vials of remdesivir produced by Cipla and privately held Indian drugmaker Hetero Labs from the suspects, they said. The Food and Drug and Administration of the western state of Maharashtra, which has recorded more than 310,000 coronavirus cases, has been trying to crack down on the black-marketing of drugs with the help of local police, the state's FDA commissioner Arun Unhale told Reuters.