Suven Pharma partners with CSIR-IICT to manufacture Molnupiravir and 2-DG

Suven Pharmaceuticals (Suven Pharma), CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad and CSIR-National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram have forged an agreement for the transfer of the process technology and manufacturing of the Covid drugs – Molnupiravir and 2-DG.

According to Suven Pharmaceuticals, it is a related party transaction with one of its independent directors Dr S Chandrasekhar also being the Director of CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad.

The agreements between the entities involve a total fee of INR 8 lakh along with taxes for granting of the licenses on non-exclusive basis to Suven Pharmaceuticals.

Molnupiravir is an antiviral drug that was originally developed for the treatment of influenza. It has been repurposed to suppress the Covid virus transmission completely within 24 hours, as per a recently published study in the journal Nature Microbiology.

Suven Pharmaceuticals partners with CSIR-IICT to manufacture Molnupiravir and 2-DG. Image courtesy of Pete Linforth from Pixabay.

Suven Pharmaceuticals said that the know how of the synthetic process for Molnupiravir was sourced from CSIR-NIIST and scale up process was executed successfully by CSIR-IICT.

The full technology know how will be transferred by the parties and Suven Pharmaceuticals in return will manufacture and launch Molnupiravir in the domestic market as a medication for Covid patients, subject to regulatory approvals.

Under the terms of the agreement, CSIR IICT will also transfer the process know how for the manufacturing of 2-DG Covid drug for the treatment of moderately and severely infected patients to decrease their oxygen dependency.