19 October 2020, Monday, 14:33 165

Medical Procurement Of Ukraine SE To Purchase 28,200 Bottles Of Remdesivir Antiviral Drug For Treatment Of Coronavirus

Даша Зубкова

The Medical Procurement of Ukraine state enterprise (SE) intends to purchase 28,200 bottles of the Remdesivir antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus infection.

Ukrainian News Agency learned this from a statement of the state enterprise.

According to it, in September the Ministry of Health instructed the enterprise to purchase 18,000 bottles of Remdesivir.

The expected procurement budget is UAH 46 million or USD 96 per bottle (at the current exchange rate - UAH 2,700 per bottle).

"The SE team held negotiations with all 9 manufacturers and received the documents necessary for the import of such medicines in accordance with the current legislation. As a result of previous negotiations, the Medical Procurement of Ukraine state enterprise managed to reduce the price per unit of the product. This allowed the Ministry of Health to increase the order to 28,200 bottles," the statement reads.

As a result of the final negotiations, the cost was reduced to USD 24.25 per bottle (at the current exchange rate – UAH 687).

The total amount of the contract was UAH 19.3 million.

With the money saved, which is UAH 26.7 million, Medical Procurement of Ukraine is ready to contract additional batches of medicines.

It is also reported that the manufacturer is ready to supply the first batch of 14,000 bottles of Remdesivir as soon as possible.

Since the drug is not registered in Ukraine, a separate decision of the Ministry of Health is required for its import.

The use of Remdesivir in the treatment of coronavirus infection is temporarily permitted or approved in 50 countries.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Healthcare Minister Maksym Stepanov said earlier that the Ministry of Healthcare will initiate centralized procurement of the Remdesivir antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus infection until October 20.

In early September, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated funds for the purchase of the Remdesivir antiviral drug for the treatment of coronavirus infection.

Remdesivir is a synthetic antiviral drug that was originally developed to fight Ebola.

The drug belongs to those recommended for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and is included in the Ukrainian protocol for the treatment of coronavirus infection.