Egypt’s Rameda Pharmaceutical said it will make its intravenous Remdesivir, an antiviral medication used for treating critical COVID-19 cases, available to the public starting September, after receiving an official notice from the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) on the drug’s commercial prices.

In a disclosure to the bourse on Tuesday, Rameda said it was notified by the EDA on the commercial price of Remdesivir powder vials used in the treatment of coronavirus patients, setting the price at EGP 680 ($42.55) per vial under the brand name Remdesivir-Rameda.

Remdesivir, originally developed to treat Ebola, appears to shorten the recovery time of COVID-19 patients. The experimental drug has recently been authorised for the treatment of certain hospitalised patients in several countries including the US, the UK and Japan.

The Egyptian drug manufacturer also said its drug Anviziram will be sold for EGP 1,260 ($78.85) per 40-tablet pack in accordance with a decision by the EDA.

Anviziram contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient Favipiravir, which is the generic form of the antiviral medicine released under the brand name Avigan in Japan.

No coronavirus vaccine has been developed yet, but many countries are conducting human trials for several existing antiviral drugs to test their efficacy.

Two of the most talked-about drugs are the Russian-approved Avifavir and the US Gilead Remdesivir. Local production of both antiviral medications began in Egypt in June by two local drug-makers, including Rameda, with Remdesivir having already been supplied to many hospitals by drugmaker Eva Pharma.

Egypt has been seeing a significant drop in detected coronavirus cases, registering less than 1,000 daily cases in the past few days.

Egypt recorded 627 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total infection tally to 88,402, including 4,352 fatalities since the outbreak of the virus in mid-February.

Egypt has been selected by China to serve as a future hub for manufacturing a coronavirus vaccine in Africa once it is developed by Beijing.