Hyderabad, May 13 (IANS) MSN Labs (MSN) on Thursday announced it has entered into a royalty free, non-exclusive, voluntary license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company of USA for manufacturing and marketing of baricitinib for Covid-19 in India.

The drug baricitinib has been granted a restricted emergency use approval in India by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization for emergency use in combination with remdesivir for the treatment of suspected or laboratory confirmed Covid-19 in hospitalised adults requiring supplemental oxygen, invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

"This Collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company is a landmark milestone in India's fight against Covid-19 and will thus help in increasing the availability and affordability of baricitinib," said Dr. MSN Reddy, CMD - MSN Group.

MSN will be launching the product under the brand name Baridoz in two strengths 2 mg and 4mg. MSN has developed the active pharmaceutical ingredient and the formulation of baricitinib in its in-house R&D and manufacturing units.

As part of the Covid treatment range, MSN has already launched Favilow (Favipiravir) in the strengths of 200mg, 400mg and 800mg and Oselow (Oseltamivir) as 75 mg capsules.

--IANS ms/ash