Kozhikode (Keralam) | Health Minister K Muraleedharan on Friday said the government would take further action after receiving a report from an expert committee probing the allegations that expired doses of Remdesivir were administered to Nipah patients in Keralam in previous years.

In a reply to a submission by Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan in the Assembly, the minister had said that Remdesivir procured in 2021 had an expiry date of May 2023 but might have been administered to patients admitted to Kozhikode Medical College till 2025.

Speaking to reporters here, Muraleedharan said the information presented to the Assembly was based on reports from responsible officials of the Health Department and that he would not make further comments until the expert committee submitted its findings.

The government would investigate whether the deaths of Nipah patients were linked to the administration of expired medicine and whether other patients who received the drug had suffered any adverse effects, Muraleedharan said.

"There are several doubts regarding the medicine, including whether it was administered after its expiry date. We will investigate and take a decision," he said.

The minister clarified that there were no concerns about the quality or efficacy of Remdesivir itself and that the issue under investigation was whether expired doses had been administered to patients.

Recalling the procurement of the drug during the Nipah outbreak after the UDF government came to power, he said efforts to source it from different parts of the country had failed as the available stocks in Mumbai had expired.

Subsequently, the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL) informed the government that the medicine was available in Bahrain, following which it was procured within 48 hours, he said.

He said patients who received the medicine within its validity period had recovered and asserted that the controversy concerned its expiry date rather than the drug's efficacy.

Muraleedharan said the expert committee headed by Dr Aravind would conduct an impartial examination without any preconceived conclusions.

The probe would also examine how the medicine was procured and supplied, the role of intermediaries and the functioning of KMSCL.

The government would investigate whether any agents were involved in the procurement process, he said.

The minister also said the Kozhikode Medical College superintendent had informed him that the packaging of the Remdesivir medicine listed an expiry date but did not mention its manufacturing date. Both details were normally required on medicine packaging, and the discrepancy would be examined, he said.

He said the government would also examine information that the medicine supplied to patients was labelled for clinical trial use, adding that he had not received an authoritative report confirming all the details.

"Further decisions on the issues would be taken after receiving the expert committee's findings," he said.

He also referred to concerns about the involvement of foreign pharmaceutical companies in the state's medicine procurement, saying the government would examine the related transactions and procedures.

It was on Thursday that Muraleedharan replied to the submission at the Assembly.

The minister said that KMSCL had last procured 3,000 vials of Remdesivir through its Karunya scheme on June 3, 2021, at Rs 42 lakh. The medicine had an expiry date of May 30, 2023.

According to a report received from Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, 102 vials of Remdesivir were used during 2023-24, 34 during 2024-25, 10 during 2025-26 and 50 during 2026-27.

However, the 50 vials used during 2026-27 had been procured from Bahrain on June 12, 2026, for treating a Nipah patient, the minister said.

In view of these details, there was a suspicion that Remdesivir administered to patients at the medical college during 2023, 2024 and 2025 had expired, he said.

The minister said instructions had been issued to the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) to collect details of all patients who had similarly received Remdesivir from health institutions.

He said six Nipah cases were reported in 2023, of whom two died.

In 2024, two cases were reported, and both patients died, while two of the three Nipah patients reported in 2025 also succumbed to the infection.

One Nipah case was reported in 2026, and the patient recovered.

Nipah virus is a zoonotic virus that can be transmitted between animals and humans.

Fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, are the natural reservoir of the Nipah virus.

The virus can also cause illness in pigs and humans.