Fiocruz produces Brazil's first generic drug for hepatitis B

Brazil’s Institute of Drug Technology (Farmanguinhos/Fiocruz) has started the production of the first generic drug in the country to treat chronic liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV).

The drug is entecavir 0.5mg, an antiviral drug that aims to reduce the risk of disease progression in patients and its complications, such as cirrhosis, liver cancer and even death, marketed by US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) as Baraclude.

The production is the result of a cooperation with the Ezequiel Dias Foundation (Funed), undertaken in 2019, which defines Farmanguinhos/Fiocruz as the drug's manufacturing site. The laboratory located in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is responsible for the packaging and distribution process in the Unified Health System (SUS). Prior to this partnership, the product used to be imported from the USA. The Institute has already sent the first batches, with more than 670,000 coated pills. In total, by the end of 2020, 5.950 million pharmaceutical units of Entecavir will be delivered.