Suven Pharma inks non-exclusive licencing pact with IICT, NIIST for 2-DG & Molnupiravir process tech

Hyderabad: After licencing the process knowhow for synthesis of Covid-19 wonder drug 2-DG (2-Deoxy-D-Glucose) to Lee Pharma, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has now inked a similar pact with another Hyderabad-based player Suven Pharmaceuticals for 2-DG and anti-viral drug Molnupiravir. The drug helps treat moderately and severely Covid-19 infected patients by speeding up recovery and reducing their oxygen dependency.

The agreements for 2-DG and Molnupiravir involve a total fee of Rs 8 lakh plus taxes for grant of licences on non-exclusive basis, Suven Pharma informed the bourses on Thursday, adding that this is a related party transaction as one of its independent directors, Dr S Chandrasekhar, is the director of CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad.

Suven Pharmaceuticals said IICT Hyderabad and National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, both Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) institutes, have entered into a non-exclusive agreement with the company for the process technology transfer and manufacturing of anti-influenza drug Molnupiravir, which has been repurposed for Covid-19.

While the synthetic process knowhow for Molnupiravir was sourced from CSIR-NIIST, the scale up process was carried out by CSIR-IICT. “The complete technology knowhow for Molnupiravir will be transferred and SPL will manufacture and launch it in the domestic market, subject to regulatory approvals,” Suven said.

“Molnupiravir was initially developed for the treatment of influenza and is repurposed to completely suppress the Covid virus transmission within 24 hours according to the study recently published in the journal Nature Microbiology. The drug could be a game changer in mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 virus” Suven Pharma said.

As per the agreement, CSIR IICT would also provide the process knowhow for the manufacture of new anti-Covid drug 2-DG.