The government has allocated 16.5 lakh vials of Remdesivir to all the states for the period between May 3 and May 9, 2021 to control the spread of COVID-19 disease in India.  

A total allocation of 34.5 lakh vials has been made so far since April 21. Allocation to states is a dynamic process and efforts will be made to further enhance supply in the coming weeks.

The Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers D. V. Sadananda Gowda appreciated the efforts of seven manufacturers of Remdesivir for increasing the production capacity to 1.03 crore vials per month up from 38 lakh vials per month a month ago. This increased capacity will augment domestic availability of the injection.

Gowda stressed the need to continuously monitor availability of other essential medicines and to check instances of black marketing and hoarding. Dr. Somani, DCGI informed that already a survey is being undertaken to ascertain availability of various medicines in the market. Preliminary findings suggest that at present, there is adequate availability of medicines in the market and the Department of Pharma, NPPA and CDSCO will continue to closely monitor their availability.

Regarding black marketing and hoarding, Gowda said, "State drug controllers have been instructed to make teams at state level for field inspections. Strict Action is being taken against hoarding and black marketing of drugs. A number of preventive and enforcement actions have been taken by DCGI/SDCs to stop hoarding/black marketing/overcharging of COVID management drugs like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, Favipiravir, etc."

Gowda chaired a meeting to review availability of drugs for covid treatment and other essential drugs. The Meeting was attended by S. Aparna, Secretary, Pharma; Dr. V. G. Somani, DCGI; Shubhra Singh, Chairperson, NPPA; Dr. Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; Navdeep Rinwa, Joint Secretary, Pharma; Vinod Kotwal, Member Secretary, NPPA; and other senior officers.

By 1st May 2021, as many as 78 actions had been taken all over India, in coordination with SDCs, local police, FDA etc. for hoarding, overcharging, black marketing, and arrests were made/cases were registered. Seizures of drugs, vehicles, empty vials (meant probably for making spurious drugs) and cash were made. In one case in Chandigarh, Remdesivir vials to the tune of 3,000 units were recovered.

Gowda lauded pharma companies and officers of Department of Pharma, NPPA, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and CDSCO for their coordinated efforts and close cooperation in ramping up availability of drugs for COVID-19 treatment and other essential drugs within the shortest possible time. Such close collaboration between the government and private sector is the need of the hour.