Government Approves 5 More Manufacturers to Produce Black Fungus Drugs

New Delhi: 

The Union Health Ministry announced on Friday that five more manufacturers have been granted licenses to produce Amphotericin-B, a medication used to treat black fungus and that they will begin manufacturing 1,11,000 vials of the drug per month in July.

The ministry said that efforts are being made to supplement domestic availability of the antifungal drug through import and that 3,63,000 vials of Amphotericin-B will be imported in May, bringing the total available in the country to 5,26,752 vials (including domestic production).

According to the company, 3,15,000 vials of Amphotericin-B will be imported in June, bringing the total number of vials available in the country to 5,70,114.

In recent days, many states and union territories have registered an increase in the number of patients suffering from COVID complications in the form of Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, according to the ministry.

There is also a reported shortage of Amphotericin-B, it stated.

The Union Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), is working to significantly increase domestic development of the Amphotericin-B medication, according to the statement.

According to the statement, the Union government has also made successful efforts to augment domestic availability by securing supply from global manufacturers.

NATCO Pharmaceuticals, Hyderabad, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Vadodara, Gufic Biosciences Ltd, Gujarat, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Pune, and Lyka in Gujarat are the five manufacturers who have been granted the licence to produce Amphotericin-B in the region.

These companies will start producing 1,11,000 vials of Amphotericin-B per month from July this year, the statement said.

According to the announcement, the Union Health Ministry and the Department of Pharmaceuticals are working together to help these five manufacturers pre-plan some of their production so that these additional supplies can begin in June.

There are five existing manufacturers of Amphotericin-B in the country and one importer -- Bharat Serums & Vaccines Ltd, BDR Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Sun Pharma Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Life Care Innovations and Mylan Labs (importer).

"The production capacity of these companies was extremely limited in the month of April."

"As a result of the hand-holding by Government of India, these domestic manufactures will cumulatively produce 1,63,752 vials of Amphotericin-B in May. This will be further ramped up to 2,55,114 vials in June," the ministry said.

Efforts are also being made to supplement the domestic availability of this anti-fungal drug through import, it said.

"In May, 3,63,000 vials of Amphotericin-B will be imported, thereby resulting in total availability in the country (inclusive of the domestic production) of 5,26,752 vials"

Together, these companies will start producing 1,11,000 vials of Amphotericin-B per month from July, it added.

The Union Ministry of Health is also actively researching other global sources from which the Amphotericin-B drug can be manufactured, in collaboration with the MEA.

The ministry is also attempting to obtain other anti-fungal drugs that can be used to treat black Fungus, according to the statement.

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