March 29, 2024 16:14 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
PM Modi to kickstart BJP's Lok Sabha poll campaign from Meerut | Kangana Ranaut in Mandi: 'Don't think I am a heroine, consider me as your sister and daughter' | Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav demand high-level probe into Mukhtar Ansari's death | PM Modi has mastered art of manipulating democracy, hurting Constitution: Mallikarjun Kharge | Mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest at 63
Black Fungus: Indian govt to ramp up supply, availability of Amphotericin-B anti-fungal drug Balck Fungus
Image: UNI

Black Fungus: Indian govt to ramp up supply, availability of Amphotericin-B anti-fungal drug

India Blooms News Service | @indiablooms | 21 May 2021, 04:20 pm

New Delhi: The Government of India said it is supporting states and UTs in procuring drugs and diagnostics for COVID19 management through a “Whole of Government” approach.

The States and UTs are proactively supported by the Union Government for ensuring adequate availability of various medicines, medical equipments, PPE kits, masks etc., since April 2020.

In the recent days, several States and UTs have reported an increasing number of patients suffering from COVID complications in the form of Mucormycosis, popularly known as Black Fungus.

There is also a reported shortage of Amphotericin-B, an anti-fungal drug used for treatment of the Black Fungus disease.

Union Ministry of Health along with Dept. of Pharmaceuticals and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) are making proactive efforts for significantly ramping up domestic production of Amphotericin-B drug.

The Union Government has also made effective efforts in supplementing the domestic availability through securing supply from global manufacturers.

There are five existing manufacturers of Amphotericin-B in the country and one importer:

Bharat Serums & Vaccines Ltd
BDR Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Sun Pharma Ltd
Cipla Ltd
Life Care Innovations
Mylan Labs (importer)

The production capacity of these companies was extremely limited in the month of April 2021. As a result of the handholding by Government of India, these domestic manufactures will cumulatively produce 1,63,752 vials of Amphotericin-B in May 2021.

This will be further ramped up to 2,55,114 vials in the month of June 2021.

Apart from this, efforts are being made for supplementing the domestic availability of this anti-fungal drug through import.

In May 2021, 3,63,000 vials of Amphotericin-B will be imported, thereby resulting in total availability in the country (inclusive of the domestic production) of 5,26752 vials.

3,15,000 vials will be imported in June 2021. Hence, along with the domestic supply, the countrywide availability of Amphotericin-B will be enhanced to  5,70,114 vials in June 2021.

As a result of the proactive efforts by Union Ministry of Health, five more manufacturers have been given the license to produce the anti-fungal drug within the country. These are:

NATCO Pharmaceuticals, Hyderabad
Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Vadodara
Gufic Biosciences Ltd, Gujarat
Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Pune
Lyka, Gujarat

Cumulatively, these companies will start producing 1,11,000 vials of Amphotericin-B per month from July 2021. The Union Health Ministry and Deptt. of Pharmaceuticals are together trying to proactively facilitate these five manufacturers to prepone some of this production so that these additional supplies begin in June 2021.

Over and above this, Union Ministry of Health in collaboration with MEA is also actively exploring other global sources from where the Amphotericin-B drug can be imported. Union Health Ministry is also trying to procure other antifungal drugs which can be used in treatment of Black Fungus.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.