India Gets Affordable Drug To Treat Pulmonary Fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF), a respiratory condition that causes shortness of breath and dry cough, can now be cured with a generic version of the new drug launched by Glenmark Pharma.

On Wednesday, Glenmark Pharma announced the launch of its generic version of Nintedanib (NINDANIB), the medicine which is used for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, in India. The generic version of the drug will be available in the market at a much affordable price.

As the leader in the area of respiratory treatments, Glenmark Pharma has been amongst the first to launch the generic version of the drug.

With the generic version of the medicine, the patients will be able to go for a cost-effective treatment option. It will also enable doctors to ensure treatment is provided to more patients.

"Glenmark said Nintedanib is approved by the Indian drug regulator for the treatment of Idiopathic (unknown cause) Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)." reported The Hindustan Times.

The symptoms of the disease get worse over time. Doctors need to start treatment as early as possible. At the same time, continuing treatment to slow down the disease progression is important.

With the generic version, the monthly treatment cost would get lower for patients. Till now, Nintedanib has been studied extensively in various controlled clinical trials that have established the efficacy and safety of the drug.

Apart from this, Glenmark said that two clinical trials are also being done to study the efficacy and safety of Nintedanib as a treatment of SARS-COV2 induced pulmonary fibrosis in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients.

With limited treatment options available and high cost of medicines, treatment of lung diseases remains a significant treatment challenge in India.

With the introduction of a generic version of the drug, Glenmark hopes to reduce the pill as well as the cost burden for treatment of the disease for patients.