Remdesivir excess stocking: Mumbai Police to call directors of pharma firm for inquiry

The BKC police, which had summoned a director of Bruck Pharma, a Daman-based pharmaceutical company, on Saturday in connection with stocking of large quantities of Remdesivir vials in Mumbai, will call other directors and chairman for further inquiry

The BKC police, which had summoned a director of Bruck Pharma, a Daman-based pharmaceutical company, on Saturday in connection with stocking of large quantities of Remdesivir vials in Mumbai, will call other directors and chairman for further inquiry. The director was questioned for around 45 minutes and was allowed to leave after a senior BJP leader intervened.

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The deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Manjunath Singe said, “We have questioned a director and he was allowed to go, but further inquiries are in the process as per the information received. Based on facts, appropriate action will be taken”.

According to the police, an inspector of the Vile Parle police station had received a tip-off about the storage of large quantities (60,000 vials) of Remdesivir medicines by a pharmaceutical company. It was allegedly going to be illegally flown out abroad by air cargo. The stock of Remdesivir could not be exported due to an existing ban by the Government of India, said an officer.

Remdesivir is considered a life-saving medicine for Covid-19 patients. Based on the information, one director of the pharmaceutical company was called to the BKC police station for inquiry and a team from the Food of Drugs Administration (FDA) was also informed. The senior FDA officials in Mumbai were also aware of it, mentioned the press release issued by Mumbai Police.

Around 11:15pm, former chief minister of Maharashtra and Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis along with senior politician Praveen Darekar, Parag Alavani and Prasad Lad visited BKC police station. Fadnavis inquired why the director of the pharmaceutical company was called to the police station, reads the press note.

Fadnavis said, “The permission was taken from FDA commissioner to donate the stock of Remdesivir vials to the Maharashtra government, as Remdesivir stocked for export cannot be diverted to the domestic market without permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DGCA) or FDA. The communication from FDA to the pharmaceutical company was not shared with the BKC police station, which was acting independently on the information available with them, said Mumbai Police spokesperson and deputy commissioner of police S Chaitanya.

Based on the information, Mumbai Police acted in good faith and the director of the company was called for an inquiry to trace and seize the 60,000 vials of Remedesivir medicines. The inquiry was compulsory due to the complaint of black marketing of Remdesivir and shortage being faced by the state government to help the citizens, added Chaitanya.