Pharmaceutical company Cipla on 13th April said it has scaled up the production of remdesivir by 2 times from the last wave of the pandemic.

As the demand for the drug surges, the government has prohibited the exports of remdesivir injection and its active pharmaceutical ingredients. "Given the unprecedented demand for the drug, we have now further ramped up our capacities through our network, to service the demand", the company said in a statement. "To ensure fair and equitable access, we are working with the regulatory authorities to restrict the supply of the drug only to hospital channels and especially those regions with a high burden of severe COVID-19", Cipla said.

On Tocilizumab, the company said that given the spike in cases and surge in demand, it is facing a shortage and working closely with its partner in taking necessary steps to ensure the availability of the drug. "We expect intermittent supplies as the demand outstrips supply with some more receipts at the earliest", it added.