Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has said the country should be able to cater to the demand for Remdesivir, used in treatment of COVID-19 patients, by the third week of May, and supply woes should ease by then.
India will also likely to be able to meet the demand for Itolizumab and Tocilizumab drugs by the beginning of June, Mazumdar-Shaw told The Times of India.
"The demand had gone up due to low inventory levels and all of us are rushing to ramp up manufacturing. With all the efforts ongoing, we will be in a good place for Remdesivir in the third week of May," she told the publication.
Also read: India to import 4.5 lakh vials of remdesivir
The sharp surge in COVID-19 cases across has created a massive demand and consequent shortage of medical oxygen and essential drugs.
Biocon, the only manufacturer of Itolizumab in the world, can only meet the requirement in June, The Times of India reported.
"We are ramping up. We have limited inventory. We were not producing much earlier as there was not much demand. Our production has now gone up 3x, but the demand is 10 times that," Mazumdar-Shaw said.
The Centre said on April 30 said that it will import 4.5 lakh vials of Remdesivir, with the first consignment of 75,000 vials to arrive that day.
"The government has to underwrite some safety stock because if the demand comes down suddenly, we will be left with a huge inventory. This was poor pandemic preparedness on the part of the government," Biocon executive chairperson told the paper.