The Karnataka government has threatened to take action on two drug majors – Cipla and Jubilant – for failure to supply the requisite quantity of the anti-viral Remdesivir to the State as directed by the Central government.

Notice issued

A notice was issued by N Manjunath Prasad, Principal Secretary-Revenue Department, and Member Secretary, State Executive Committee, on May 11, to Cipla and Jubilant. It said that the Centre had, in its order dated May 1, directed Cipla Limited and Jubilant Limited to supply 30,000 and 32,000 Remdesivir vials to Karnataka by May 9.

This shortfall in supply, the State government said has severely impacted treatment of patients requiring the vital drug.

According to the Karnataka government, Cipla Limited has supplied only 10,840 vials as on May 8 and Jubilant Limited has supplied only 17,601 vials till the same day. For this shortfall in supply, the State government has issued notice under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, where the Chairman State Executive Committee has directed both the companies to immediately fulfil the supply obligation of Remdesivir vials as allotted by the Central government as on May 11 within 24 hours of the receipt of this notice.

BusinessLine has reached out to Cipla and Jubilant on the development and a response is awaited.

Despite the World Health Organisation cautioning against use of the injectable, Remdesivir has been used by doctors in India. States are faced with short supplies and patients have been compelled, in a sense, to procure the drug on their own, when hospitals run short of the drug. And this has lead to instances of black-marketing and instances where fakes have been circulated.

A host of drugmakers in India have the licence from American drugmaker Gilead Sciences to make Remdesivir in India and for select markets. And they include Cipla, Jubilant, Hetero, Syngene, Mylan, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Zydus Cadila.

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