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Shortage worsens for drug to treat mucormycosis; Remdesivir demand drops in Pune
Pune: The demand for Remdesivir, anti-viral drug used for Covid treatment, in the district has come down following report of less positive cases
Pune: The demand for Remdesivir, anti-viral drug used for Covid treatment, in the district has come down following report of less positive cases. According to the district officials, 73 hospitals across the district have not taken their allocated stock of Remdesivir as compared to last week. Meanwhile, requirement for Amphotericin B, drug used to treat fungal infection mucormycosis has gone up.
“Until last week, Remdesivir was distributed in 626 hospitals in the district. The count has dropped to 553 by Tuesday this week. The number is expected to further go down in coming days,” said Vijay Deshmukh, Pune additional collector.
Pune, according to Deshmukh, is currently getting an average of 4,000-5,000 vials per day. On Tuesday, Pune district recorded 3,741 new cases with active caseload at 67,373, down from 88,851 on May 12.
Shyam Pratapwar, assistant commissioner, Food and Drug Administration Pune, said that the demand for Remdesivir has dropped in the district by almost 20 per cent as compared to the last week.
A control room has been set up at district collectorate to regulate supply of Amphotericin B to hospitals. Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said the state currently has over 800 active patients of mucormycosis for whom the government has ordered 1.90 lakh injections of amphotericin.
“However, these firms cannot deliver the vials directly to us now as the supply has been regulated by the Centre from today. We have demanded to Centre to increase the allocation for Maharashtra,” said Tope in Mumbai on Wednesday.
On the efficacy of Remdesivir, after Dr Devender Singh Rana, chairperson, Board of Management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi and also a member of the national task force constituted by the Supreme Court said that the drug may be dropped from the recommended treatment protocol, experts in Pune emphasised the effectiveness of the drug widely depends on the timing of its usage.
“Remdesivir has proven to be beneficial if administered in the first 5-6 days of Covid infection. The drug is ineffective if delayed,” said Dr Subhal Dixit, critical care expert and chief of the Sanjeevan hospital, Pune.
Dr Jitendra Oswal, deputy medical director at Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College and Hospital, pointed at the results of World Health Organisation’s Solidarity trial. He said the drug is less effective in patients on invasive ventilators. “Ultimately to say that a drug has been effective we need to see how many Covid patients were saved using this drug,” he said.
