Maharashtra: Civic hospitals stormed with requests from private sector for key Covid drug

MUMBAI: Several families over the past few weeks have taken to social media and WhatsApp inquiring about the availability of the key Covid-19 drug remdesivir as well as the anti-inflammatory medicine tocilizumab. Messages were also circulating about availability in the grey market. FDA officials said they looked for several leads but couldn't find much.


TOI first flagged the issues of accessing the two key Covid-19 drugs and them being sold with huge mark-ups in the grey market, on June 6.

KEM dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh said he has received hundreds of prescriptions from private patients asking for the drug. At present, three firms, Hetero, Cipla and Mylan, are supplying the drug in the market (see box). State health minister Rajesh Tope said on Thursday Cipla and Hetero have sought more time to start suppling remdesvir. Each district may require 4,000-5,000 vials for their patients.

A senior FDA official said that as per Hetero’s last sale order, about 10,000 vials of remdesivir were supplied to Maharashtra, of which 7,800 came to Mumbai and Thane hospitals, 2,016 to Pune and 350 to Nagpur hospitals. On Thursday, several hospitals received the first batch of the Cipla drug. Dr Abdul Ansari, critical care head of Nanavati hospital, said they had received their stocks. “About 10-15% need remdesivir, of which only 5% is available,” he said.

Physician Dr Pratit Samdani said several of his patients could get the drug from BDR Pharmaceuticals on “compassionate grounds”. Industry experts estimate that after over a month there would be about a lakh vials each from Cipla and Hetero across the country as both companies will ramp up production. It will be supplied in batches as the ‘sterility' process takes about 14 days, according to a manufacturer. Other domestic companies are also expected to launch post-regulatory clearances.

The first two lots of 20,000 vials have been despatched from Mumbai-based Cipla, while till now Hyderabad-based Hetero has supplied 30,000 across the country, sources said. Further, there are reports of a generic remdesivir version from Bangladesh also being sold in Mumbai and Delhi, and smaller nursing homes may have sold the drug at marked-up rates. Companies are trying to further tighten distribution and monitor strictly the drug’s supply in hospitals.

Experts and doctors also blame the huge “hype” created around the drug in social media, with patients and their relatives demanding the drug be given. Dr Shashank Joshi, endocrinologist and member, Maharashtra's Covid-19 task force, said, “We are aware about the acute shortage, and fear that there shouldn't be any hoarding.”