However, Cipla was very clear it does not want to get into vaccine manufacturing.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking that drugs being used to treat COVID-19 patients be made available directly at hospitals, and isolation and quarantine centres where such patients are treated.

Cipla is among the three Indian companies that signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences to make and distribute the latter's repurposed Ebola drug Remdesivir in 127 countries including India.

Roche expects to start selling Actemra by April 2009, company sources said. India will be the second country to launch the drug, Japan being the first. The Indian drug regulator Drug Controller General of India usually approves a new drug marketing application based on safety and efficacy data cleared by regulators in the US, EU and other developed countries.