Mumbai: More than a month after Remdesivir was approved for the treatment of moderate to severe Covid-19 patients, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is likely to place an order for procuring 15,000 vials of the drug on Friday.
Health experts have questioned why the civic body took so long to place the order, considering the mortality rate in Mumbai is high and an increasing number of moderate cases.
Earlier, the state government had planned to import the drug from Bangladeshi companies, before the regulator’s approval. But Bangladesh was offering the drug at Rs 12,000 a vial, three times higher than the price quoted by a Hyderabad-pharmaceutical company, Hetero Healthcare, who were offering it at Rs 4,144 a vial.
“The tendering process to procure Remdesivir was done a week ago, but we were waiting for the lowest quote. On Wednesday, we received the lowest quotation from Hetero Healthcare. So, we decided to go ahead with the order,” said Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner, BMC.
India’s drug regulator, the Drug Controller of India, had approved the restricted emergency use of the medicine on June 1 and six days later, the state government cleared the import of 10,000 vials. Meanwhile, local authorities are finding it tough to order the drug.
Health experts are questioning when local authorities of the city can acquire vials of the Remdisivir injection for its frontline workers.
“Currently, Mumbai has 43 per cent of the overall corona cases reported across Maharashtra. Fifty-seven per cent of Covid-19 fatalities are reported in the city. But still, the civic body has taken a month to place an order for Remdesivir, despite knowing it is very useful,” an expert said.
Hyderabad-based Hetero Labs and Mumbai-based Cipla received emergency marketing approval from the Drug Controller of India on June 21 to supply Remdesivir injection vials in India for moderate Covid-19 cases – patients on oxygen support. The course of five vials costs Rs 28,000 to Rs 36,000.
