Cairo – Mubasher: Tenth of Ramadan for Pharmaceutical Industries and Diagnostic Reagents (Rameda) has received several orders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Yemen for the purchase of the antiviral Anviziram for treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19), Rameda’s CEO Amr Morsy told Reuters.

The pharmaceuticals firm awaits the Egyptian Ministry of Health’s approval to export the antiviral drug, Morsy noted.

Earlier, Rameda announced that it has started manufacturing the antiviral Anviziram, which contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient Favipiravir, a generic form of the Japanese anti-viral medicine Avigan.

The medicine will be supplied to the Ministry of Health to be sold at hospitals only. Negotiations are still unway to determine the price of the medicine which is planned to be available by the end of July.

Next week, Rameda will enter into discussions with the Egyptian authorities to explore the possibility of exporting the medicine to GCC countries in the coming period, the CEO revealed.

Rameda aims to increase its exports to reach 15% of its sales in the coming five years, from the current 8%.  

It is worth mentioning that in the first quarter of 2020, Rameda logged net profits of EGP 23.76 million, up from EGP 8.33 million in the year-ago period.