Now Wardha co to make mucor drug Ampho B too

Nagpur: After starting to make Remdesivir, now the Wardha-based Genetek Life Sciences has started manufacturing ‘Amphotericin B Emulsion’ injection used to treat mucormycosis. The company has priced the drug at Rs 1,200 against the present market price of Rs 7,000, thus bringing a big respite to the patients. The first 4,500 vials would be released on Monday.There is severe shortage of the lifesaving drug across the country due to a sudden spurt in the number of ‘black fungus’ patients. It is currently mostly being imported.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari again played a key role in getting licence for the Wardha firm from State Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and also in helping it procure raw material for manufacturing it from Gujarat. On Thursday, the first batch was unveiled by Gadkari at his home on Wardha Road in presence of Genetek director Mahendra Kshirsagar and other officials.
“As it was the minister's birthday, we decided to launch the drug on this day. Due to shortage of raw material, we will be producing 4,500 vials per day from Monday, but our capacity is 20,000 and we can take it to 30,000. We will be handing over the product to the Maharashtra government. It will be then distributed in Vidarbha on priority and then to the rest of the state, as it was with Remdesivir,” Kshirsagar said adding their next goal was to manufacture Covid-19 vaccine.
The company started making efforts in this direction in the last couple of weeks after receiving a call from Gadkari, who told them to explore the possibility of manufacturing Amphotericin. “Luckily for us, one of the raw materials was available with us, as we produce over 150 products. Other material is procured from Europe, Gujarat and other places and there was a big waiting list of over four months. Due to the minister's efforts, we got priority,” Kshirsagar said, adding they didn't need to recruit new manpower or set up new machinery for making the product.
Currently, only one company, Mylan, imports Amphotericin in India and that is why its price is so high. “Mylan also imports it from Gilead. Now, the Centre has granted licences to many companies and in 15-20 days, more quantity will be available. One more company would start making raw material too. We will be testing our product till Sunday. Since mucormycosis is not a contagious disease, we hope it could be brought under control soon with sufficient availability of Amphotericin, which is very effective,” Kshirsagar said.
Where will vials go, asks HC
High court here has asked Centre and state whether the ‘Amphotericin B Lipid Complex’ manufactured by Genetek Life Sciences would be exclusively made available for Maharashtra or go into the central pool. “We have been informed by amicus curiae that Wardha firm would be manufacturing 4,500 vials every day. But it’s not clear where those would be distributed,” the bench said.