The Hindu : Business : Pharma companies gear up to supply bird flu drug

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006

Business

Business

Pharma companies gear up to supply bird flu drug

Ramnath Subbu

Cipla, Ranbaxy and Hetero are the main producers

MUMBAI: The Indian pharmaceutical industry is expressed confident of being able to meet the demand for anti-viral drugs in the event of an outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu in the country.

Companies are ready or in the process of gearing up to supply adequate amount of the drug. The companies with capacities to produce the compound, Oseltamivir, used for avian influenza treatment include Cipla, Ranbaxy and Hetero Drugs.

Of these, Hetero Drugs has been sub-licensed by Roche to make it and Roche itself has supplied a quantum of drugs to the Government. The patent for Oseltamivir is still pending in India.

While Ranbaxy has the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) form ready and is working on making the formulation in a time line, Hetero Drugs has already supplied five lakh tablets at Rs. 710 for a pack of 10 tablets to the Government with Roche too having already supplied 7,000 tablets to the Government. It can supply up to 30,000 more by April. One strip would cover treatment for the infection at a dosage of two tablets a day for five days.

Speaking to The Hindu, M. Srinivas Reddy, Director (Marketing), Hetero Drugs, said, "We will be supplying a further two lakh capsules by Wednesday. Besides, for the last two months, we have been keeping one million capsules in the equivalent API form in stock. If there is a need, we can encapsulate and pack the product in 72 hours. We will not sell the drug in the retail form.''

Amar Lulla, Joint Managing Director, Cipla, said, "We can supply one lakh tablets a week starting mid-week. The Government has not yet approached us for supplying the medicine but we have offered to sell to them at Rs. 650 a strip of 10 capsules/tablets which is our wholesale price against the retail market price of Rs. 1,000 a strip.''

PTI reports from New Delhi:

Ranbaxy offer

SRL Ranbaxy said it was willing to work with the Government in testing bird flu cases in humans through its "quick diagnostic test,'' which was capable of providing results within a day. "If there is a health emergency due to bird flu, the test could also be used an effective tool for mass screening and confirmation of bird flu cases'' Group Director Janak Singh Bajwa said.

Although the indigenously developed — RT-PCR test — costs about Rs. 2,500 per testing, Mr. Bajwa said: "We are willing to work with the Government.''The RT-PCR test provides results with near accuracy within a day and makes it extremely useful to fight any emergency situations like epidemics, he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News Update

Stories in this Section