A letter has been issued by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to all drug manufacturers associations giving an information about the low supply of 15 essential drugs which are the treatment against COVID-19. Request has also been made by the DCGI to all pharma associations to look forward into the matter of less production and potential shortage with concerned manufacturers to make sure adequate supply and availability of these essential drugs.
NPPA prepared the list of these drugs on May 18, 2020 as per the data provided by the CDSCO office on May 15, 2020, which, in turn, was supplied by Drug Controllers after examining the availability of all medicines in their respective States/Union Territories.
The list of drugs that are low in supply are :-
1) Thiopentone Sodium Injection
2) Vasopressin Injection
3) Enalaprilat Injection
4) Clotrimazole Pessary
5) Targocid Injection
6) Biperiden Tablets
7) Activated Charcoal tablets
8) Linezolid Injection
9) Salbutamol Pratropium inhaler
10) Beclomethasone inhaler
11) Formoterol 20mcg + Budesonide 0.5 mg inhaler capsules
12) Oxygen inhalation
13) Morphine 1mg/ ml injection
14) Lidocaine injection
15) Hydralazine injection
Mahesh Doshi, President, Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA) said, “We have checked with our IDMA member companies and realised that there is no shortage of these medicines in the market. However, due to the nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country, pharma manufacturers across the country faced operational difficulties in production. The majority of issues were related to manpower, logistics and low availability of raw materials, all these could be the reasons for the lower supply of these medicines in the market.”
Mahesh Doshi further informed that IDMA has requested all its members to make sure about the availability of these medicines in the market.
Sudarshan Jain, Secretary-General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said, “We have checked with the IPA members who are involved in manufacturing these essential medicines and found that we are maintaining the supply as against the pre-COVID-19 situation. Nevertheless, we have communicated to our member companies about the lower supply of 15 essential drugs in the market as well as the need to ensure the availability of these drugs in the market. Similarly, we have also updated the DCGI about ensuring the availability of these 15 essential drugs in the market from our member companies.”
