Romanian producer wins EC contract to deliver COVID-19 drugs

Romanian state-controlled drug maker Antibiotice Iasi will deliver 2.75 million vials of AmoxiPlus (amoxicillin / clavulanic acid), an antibiotic used to treat COVID-19 associated infections, to European Union countries, in the next 12 months.

The company won a tender organized by the European Commission, Hotnews.ro reported.

Antibiotice Iasi will sell the drug at a price of EUR 1.19 per vial, which will result in sales of EUR 3.27 mln for the company.

AmoxiPlus is one of the most widely used antibiotics in the pandemic, according to the company. Antibiotice is the only pharmaceutical company in Romania with a production flow for sterile injectable powders, the first product being manufactured in 1955.

Meanwhile, Dragos Damian, the CEO of Terapia Cluj - another major drug manufacturer in Romania - believes the state's policies have made it more difficult for local companies to produce essential drugs. In a column published inZiarul Financiardaily, he says the public policies over the past decades regarding the pharmaceuticals market - including the claw-back tax - have left no funds in the local companies' vaults for investments.

He also expressed a lack of trust in the authorities' support for the sector after the pandemic ends. The industry's representatives haven't been invited to contribute to the political parties' strategies aimed at boosting the country's drug production capacities, Damian commented.

However, he stresses that the industry has been performing quite well give this context: within less than six months, local companies started to produce the necessary drugs, such as hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir, and expanded the production of paracetamol, without the slightest support from the Romanian state.

(Photo source: Antibiotice.ro)