2,355 tocilizumab injections and 30,927 remdesivir vials used in Mumbai: BMC data

Amidst the growing demand for essential drugs in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) shows that till October

Amidst the growing demand for essential drugs in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) shows that till October 18, as many as 2,355 tocilizumab injections have been used to treat critically-ill Covid-19 patients in the city. While another 30,927 vials of remdesivir have been provided to patients.

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The city has more than 20,000 active Covid-19 patients. Remdesivir, an antiviral drug used for the treatment of Ebola, is used in the early stages of the Covid-19 infection to bring down the viral load in patients. While tocilizumab, also known as atlizumab, an immunosuppressive drug is given to critically-ill patients. It was originally designed to treat arthritis, and is imported by Roche pharma and marketed by Mumbai-based Cipla.

Since April, the demand for the two drugs has increased drastically which is also leading to black marketing. The civic body, however, ruled out any claim of shortages of the essential drugs.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, BMC has procured over 33,000 and around 2,500 doses of tocilizumab and remdesivir respectively. At present, the civic body has 140 and 2,800 dosage stock of tocilizumab and remdesivir respectively.

Additionally, the civic body BMC has also procured 3,01,478 tablets of flavipiravir, an antiviral drug which is given to moderately-ill patients to reduce the viral load of Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Out of these, already 2,67,978 of the tables have been consumed. At present, the civic body has 33,500 tables in stock.

After initial months of shortages of drugs, hospitals in the city have adequate amounts of the medicines. “At present, we don’t have any shortages of medicines in our hospital. We do have an adequate number of vials. Also, as the procurement process has got more channelised, the involvement of middlemen has come down,” said Dr Jalil Parkar, a pulmonologist at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra.

Doctors in the city are relying heavily on these three promising drugs which are helping save the lives of thousands. As HT reported on August 27, a total of 77% of Covid-19 patients treated with tocilizumab and remdesivir in a major tertiary-care civic-run hospital have survived.

Seek written consent to administer remdesivir

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) last month issued a circular making it mandatory to take written consent of patients or their relatives before giving remdesivir. This directive was given to involve patients or their relatives in administering expensive drugs like remdesivir and to curb the unregulated usage of it.

“The instruction has been provided to doctors following the centralized directive of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI),” said Dr TP Lahane, director of DMER.