Remdesivir pushes up Beacon Pharma’s profit  

Riding on its sales of antiviral drug Remdesivir, the local company Beacon Pharmaceuticals Limited has reported a 742% jump in profit in the second quarter of the current fiscal year.

In the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the company's earnings per share was Tk1.01, which was Tk0.12 at the same period in the previous year.

At the end of the first half of this fiscal year, its earnings per share stood at Tk1.26.

"The medication item (Remdesivir) has been at the top of the demand since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the globe. Our business has jumped as we too started producing the medicine in the local market. Apart from this, sales of our other items have increased at the same time," said Giash Uddin Ahmed, director of the Finance and Accounts division of the Beacon Pharma.

He hopes that the company will be able to maintain a steady growth in the coming days.

The Beacon Pharmaceuticals has launched the "Pandovir 100" under the generic of Remdesivir in August. The company also launched Favipira tablet last year to treat the Covid-19 patients.

Favipiravir is the generic name of Favipira, which is known as Avigan in Japan. Beacon pharma brought it to Bangladesh in April last year.

Favipiravir is a patented drug in Japan, but Bangladesh as a least developed country can make and market the medicine till 2033.

The company got listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 2010. Its share price was Tk80.30 at the end of the Thursday's trading session at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.