• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books
• Gallery

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Testing times

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai, June 12 Drug companies have been put on the alert, with the World Health Organisation pushing the pandemic button on influenza A (H1N1), commonly known as swine flu.

India on Friday confirmed its 16th swine flu case, even as the WHO raised its alert on swine flu to level 6, the first in 40 years.

The Centre already has a stockpile of 10 million capsules of Roche’s anti-influenza drug Tamiflu and has sounded out drugmakers to “bank” an additional six million with them.

This additional capacity would be procured by the Government, as the need arises, an official told Business Line.

The Health Ministry top-brass clarified that there was no need for panic, and that surveillance and testing would control the spread of the flu locally.

Eighteen labs across the country have been enrolled for testing. Hyderabad-based Hetero, the only local manufacturer selling generic Tamiflu or Oseltamivir to the Centre, has also been asked for details on its capacity and ability to step up production in case of an emergency, said Hetero’s Director for Marketing, Mr Srinivas Reddy.

“We have already delivered nine million capsules. More clarity (after the raised pandemic warning) will emerge in a day or two,” he added.

The Centre has also been stock-taking with other drugmakers such as Cipla and Ranbaxy on their capacity to make Oseltamivir, though it does not procure from them at present.

In May, the Centre had made an enabling provision to import 10 lakh capsules of Roche’s Tamiflu, exempting it from Customs duty.

Pune-based vaccine-maker Serum Institute, part of the global network of manufacturers identified by the WHO, is waiting for the multilateral body to distribute the strain that can then be developed into a vaccine.

It is expected to get the strain in a couple of weeks, a Serum official said.

GlaxoSmithKline is also in the fray to make a swine flu vaccine.

The WHO has reported 29,669 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection from74 countries as on June 12. There have been 145 deaths.

More Stories on : Health | Pharmaceuticals

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line