An Iranian pharmaceutical company has launched the production line of remdesivir, which is used for treating Covid-19.
According to Mohammad Ali Maleki, managing director of Ronak Pharmaceutical Company, remdesivir is likely to be the only effective antiviral medicine against Covid-19.
“Ronak Pharmaceutical Company has a daily production capacity of 80,000 vials,” Maleki said, adding that in addition to meeting local demand for the drug, the company can export the medication to Venezuela, Iraq and Oman.
“The opening of remdesivir production line has created 50 direct jobs and 200 indirect jobs,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA on Tuesday.
Ronak, established in 2002, is a knowledge-based pharmaceutical company with a manufacturing plant located in Kaveh Industrial City in Saveh County, Markazi Province, and a head office in Tehran.
Remdesivir was originally created and developed by Gilead Sciences, an American biopharmaceutical company, in 2009, to treat hepatitis C and respiratory syncytial virus. It did not work against hepatitis C or RSV, but was then repurposed and studied as a potential treatment for Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus infections.
