Drugmaker Cipla Ltd has had a licensing agreement with Eli Lilly and Co to manufacture and sell the company’s arthritis drug baricitinib for the treatment of COVID-19.

Indian drug regulator has granted restricted emergency use approval to baricitinib to be used in combination with remdesivir for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 adult patients who need supplemental oxygen, stated Cipla. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had given Eli Lilly an emergency use approval for baricitinib in combination with remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in November last year. Besides remdesivir and tocilizumab, Cipla also provides favipiravir, used in the treatment of patients with moderate to mild COVID-19… (Reuters, May 10, 2021)