Mumbai-based Glenmark had earlier received approval from the regulator to conduct clinical trials on Favipiravir tablets for Covid-19 patients.
Strides said Covid-19 did not have any significant impact on their Q4 revenue. “There were some minor aberrations in manufacturing that led to some depletion in our inventory but there was no major impact,” said R Ananthanarayanan, chief executive officer and managing director.
The company has said it had several antiviral drugs in its basket of approved drugs, which may be repurposed for Covid-19 in FY21 and could result in business opportunities.
The company’s revenue has been hurt in the US as USFDA had ordered withdrawal of Ranitidine from the market on the last day of FY20.
Strides Founder and Non-Executive Chairman Arun Kumar said it would take at least two years for Ranitidine to be reintroduced in the US. “But we still believe in the molecule and will continue to invest time and money to see if we can bring the product back. For us, this is clearly a setback,” he said. The firm had posted a consolidated loss of ~206.5 crore for the March quarter because of the Ranitidine setback. The drug resulted in a $9 million business for Strides in the first half of FY20.