Drug ingredients get dearer as HCQ demand goes up in HP

Several small-scale pharma units in HP grapple with shortage of raw material

With the sudden surge in demand for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an anti-malarial drug being used to treat Covid-19, the prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients have increased manifold.

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The small-scale pharmaceutical factories in Himachal Pradesh, especially in Nalagarh, Barotiwaala and Baddi, are facing acute shortage of raw material. A kilogram of these drug ingredients, which earlier cost ₹7,000, is now being sold at ₹48,000.

These small units in Baddi have the capacity to manufacture around one to five lakh tablets daily, while the bigger companies can produce about 1 crore tablets in a day.

“The trade of HCQ is now totally controlled by the government, but there are some traders who are indulging in black marketing of active pharmaceutical ingredients of HCQ,” said Dr Rajesh Gupta, president of state drug manufacturing association.

“The Centre has already stored adequate stock of HCQ and there are around 3.5 crore tablets stocked in government stores. This will boost the stocks up to 10 crore tablets besides supplying the drug to foreign countries,” Gupta said adding that the demand for anti-malarial drug was far more than the manufacturing capacity of state’s units.

The units producing active pharmaceutical ingredients for HCQ are based in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

The government has ordered the manufacturing the units to increase the production of HCQ to treat Covid-19 patients across the country,” said state drug controller Navneet Marwah. “So far we have not received any complaints about the increase in the price of HCQ ingredients,” he claimed.

There are 40 units in the state that have the approval to make HCQ tablets. These are based in the pharmaceutical hubs of Baddi and Nalagarh in Solan district, Kala Amb and Nahan in Sirmaur district and Sansarpur in Kangra district.