The Central government has a reserve stock of nearly 50 lakh vials of the Remdesivir drug and plans production of Tocilizumab drug as part of its expansive preparations for a possible third wave of the Covid-19, top government sources have told News18.
There is also thinking inside the government on reopening the export of Covid-19 vaccines by November once enough supplies of the vaccines is there and a majority of adults are vaccinated in the country. For now, the government’s official stand is that its focus is on the domestic vaccination exercise.
Remdesivir and Tocilizumab were crucial drugs for the management of Covid-19 patients during the second wave and a shortage of the same was seen before the government ramped up efforts to produce Remdesivir in the country and import Tocilizumab.
The latter is a patented drug of Hoffman La Roche, a Swiss multinational company, which is not manufactured in India and was available through imports.
A top source said the government presently has 50 lakh vials of Remdesivir in stock and has plans for domestic production of Tocilizumab as well in preparation for a possible third wave.
The 50 lakh vials of Remdesivir have been kept as a reserve for immediate release to states if the need emerges.
News18 has learned that the seven licensed manufacturers of the drug in India now have a monthly capacity of nearly 1.25 crore vials per month and they have produced a total of nearly 3 crore vials so far. Export of Remdesivir could also start soon.
Vaccine Exports?
On the front of Covid-19 vaccines, there is a thinking in the government to possibly re-open exports of the vaccine by November with nearly half-a-dozen domestic vaccine manufacturers to be in the market by then and stocks would be adequate for sparing for exports.
Existing manufacturers like Serum Institute have been asking the government to re-open exports given subdued demand for the vaccine in the private sector here. The official word so far from the government however is that the focus presently is vaccination of Indians.
India had started external supplies of COVID- 19 vaccines under the Vaccine Martin initiative on January 20, 2021, in the form of grants-in-aid and commercial sales by Indian manufacturers and through GAVI’s COVAX facility, which attracted many political attacks from the opposition.
About 6.63 Cr vaccine doses were exported before it was shut down. But with an aim of all adults to be vaccinated in India by year-end, there is thinking on re-opening exports by November.
Other Preparations For 3rd Wave
The government has made preparations on other fronts too for a possible third wave. 293 new Oxygen Plants have been commissioned across the country out of a total of 1573 oxygen generation plants that have been sanctioned. 351 additional oxygen plants are also being set up by different ministries of the Central Government. 1244 Liquid Medical Oxygen Tankers are available in the country as of date. The capacity of nearly two lakh Oxygen cylinders has also been added since April.
The country also has over 18 lakh isolation beds and 1.25 lakh ICU beds now. Over 50,000 ventilators have been supplied to the states by the Centre and as many Oxygen concentrators.
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