Background
Currently, only dexamethasone, tocilizumab and sarilumab have conclusively been shown to reduce mortality of COVID-19. No drug for prevention or treatment in earlier stages of COVID-19 are yet found; although several new candidates including ivermectin, dutasteride, baricitinib, budesonide and colchicine are being studied with some early promising results. Safe and effective treatments will need to be both affordable and widely available globally.
Objectives
This analysis will estimate and compare potential generic production costs of a selection of COVID-19 drug candidates with international list prices.
Methods
Costs of production for new and potential COVID-19 drugs (dexamethasone, ivermectin, dutasteride, budesonide, baricitinib, tocilizumab, sarilumab and colchicine) were estimated using active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) data extracted from global shipping records. This was compared with national pricing data from low, medium, and high-income countries. Annual API export volumes from India were used to estimate the current availability of each drug.
Results
Repurposed therapies can be generically manufactured at very low per-course costs: ranging from $2.58 for IV dexamethasone (or $0.19 orally) to $0.12 for ivermectin. No export price data was available for baricitinib, tocilizumab or sarilumab. When compared against international list prices, we found wide variations between countries. Drug API availability was generally good, with colchicine being the most available with sufficient annual API exported for 59.8 million treatment courses.
Conclusions
Successful management of COVID-19 will require equitable access to treatment for all populations, not just those able to pay high prices. Analysed drugs are widely available and affordable, whilst IV treatment courses are more expensive.
