Piramal is continuing on its acquisitive spree, snapping up a basket of injectable products from Janssen that are expected to give the diversified Indian group a foothold in the $20bn-plus global generic injectable hospital drugs market.

The WHO’s new "living guideline" against remdesivir’s use in hospitalized patients notwithstanding, some key opinion leaders in India see a role for the antiviral, but underscore that COVID-19 is still in its infancy and all repurposed therapies for the disease still have a long way to go. They also see the US remdesivir studies as more robust.

More patent-related turbulence appears ahead for Novartis’s sacubitril/valsartan combination in India, with Torrent emerging as the new challenger. The companies are engaged in a legal battle and the Indian firm is also seeking a revocation of the patent on the star heart failure treatment.