By IT Correspondent
Mumbai, July 25:
A woman was arrested on charges of selling tocilizumab injection, used for treatment of coronavirus, at inflated price at Ulhasnagar, (about 43 kms from Mumbai) in Thane district by officers of the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Friday.
The accused who was identified as Neeta Panjwani was found selling tocilizumab for Rs.60,000 per injection as against authorised price of Rs 40,545. Acting on the tip off, that the accused has been selling the injection to gullible people at heavy price and was operating near the market, a trap was laid under guidance of Joint Commissioners Viraj Paunikar and Sunil Bhardwaj, by Drugs Inspectors Nishigandha Pashte, Nitin Aher and Sandeep Narawane and the accused was arrested while negotiating with a customer.
She has been booked under provision of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Essential Commodities Act 1955 and further inquiries are on to find out from whom she was getting the supply of medicine.
In India, tocilizumab is imported and then distributed by “Cipla”. The black markets for tocilizumab spring up as demand for the COVID-19 drug surges and patients’ families are being forced to shell out as much as Rs 1.4 lakh for 400 mg of the drug.
Tocilizumab is not a new drug, nor is it a “miracle drug” that could treat COVID-19. It is being used to treat mostly rheuomatoid arthiritis. At present it is undergoing clinical trials to ascertain whether it is a definitive treatment option for coronavirus. But as tocilizumab’s importance grows, there is a growing problem of supply and affordability. The main reason is that the Swiss pharmaceutical major “Roche” has a complete monopoly over who makes this drug. Currently, only “Roche” and its subsidiary “Genentech” make it and “Roche” has not licensed it out to any other company.
In the meanwhile FDA, Maharashtra has been constantly booking black marketers engaged in selling drugs at high price. Seven persons were arrested on 19 July, 2020 from Mulund in North East Mumbai after laying a trap by FDA officials. The accused were selling “Remdesivir” injection at an inflated price. The MRP of “Remdesivir” of “Hetro Pharma” is Rs 5400, while that of “Cipla is Rs 4,000. The accused were selling the vial for Rs.30,000.
On 22 July, five persons were arrested by Thane Police, in connection with black marketing of “Remdesivir” and “Tocilizumab” injections. While the market price of Remdesivir is Rs 5,400 and Tocilizumab Rs 30,500, the accused were selling the two drugs for Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000, respectively. The accused- Arun Singh (35), Sudhakar Giri (37) and Ravindra Shinde (35), were arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell of Thane police,.near a petrol pump in Thane, where they had come to deliver the drugs. Based on their interrogation, other two accused- Wasim Shaikh (32) and Amitabh Das (39) were later arrested from Navi Mumbai.
