Unused tocilizumab stock from Satara diverted to Pune

PUNE: The administration has started diverting unused stock of tocilizumab — an anti-rheumatic drug administered to severely ill Covid-19 patients — from Satara to Pune to address its acute shortage in the district.
“Currently, we have diverted 100 vials of tocilizumab, each containing 40mg drug, from Satara district through the divisional commissioner’s intervention.We are tapping the unused stock of the medicine in other neighbouring districts as well,” said Shyam Pratapwar, assistant commissioner (drugs), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pune.

The treating Covid hospitals have been facing the drug crunch for a week now. Quite a few severely ill patients are getting referred to hospitals in Pune from rural areas and adjoining districts. Some of these patients have cytokine storm — an abnormal immune response — and need tocilizumab to tide it over.
Unlike remdesivir, tocilizumab is distributed to treating hospitals only against requirement through the district collectorate because it is an imported drug and its supply has always been erratic. “We are doing our best to replenish the stock in Pune,” Pratapwar said. Noble Hospital’s infectious diseases expert Ameet Dravid said, “We have used tocilizumab in 39 Covid patients in our ICU in the last one month. The treatment outcome is the best in carefully selected patients.”
Doctors are using other drugs in view of the shortage of tocilizumab, including anti-cancer, anti-ulcerative colitis and immunosuppressant drugs, but studies have not proven them very useful in tackling Covid-19.