Medicine supply, prices managed well amid crisis

At a time when many sectors have come to a standstill due to the countrywide lockdown, production and supply of medicines across the country have been going off without a hitch, thanks to a timely plan of action undertaken by the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA).

The planning also helped avoid a crisis of medicine as well as any hike in the drug prices during the Covid-19 outbreak, Major General Md Mahbubur Rahman, director-general of DGDA, told The Daily Star yesterday in an interview.

"Ensuring a smooth production and supply of medicine was a Herculean task and so far we have been able to do it without any disruption," he said, adding that pharmaceutical is the only sector that has successfully tackled the situation.

Mahbubur said sensing the crisis, the DGDA started working since the end of January and several decisions, including how the raw materials would be imported, were taken in consultation with all the stakeholders.

He said raw materials of medicines are imported, mainly from China. But as it was one of the worst-hit countries by the pandemic, the DGDA held several meetings with the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) to find alternative sourcing countries.

Bangladesh is currently sourcing the raw materials from India and some European countries, Mahbubur said.

The decisions also included formulation of a guideline to keep the production and supply of medicine smooth, the DGDA director general said.

Although there is no specific treatment for Covid-19, the drug administration started working in advance to increase the production of some supportive medicines, the DGDA chief said.

"We have taken initiative to increase the production of paracetamol, vitamin-c, some antibiotics, and various vitamin supplementary so that there is no crisis if the situation worsens," Mahbubur said.

He said initiatives were also taken to produce some antiviral drugs like remdesivir and favipiravir, which are being used to treat corona patients on a limited scale.

"We hope that remdesivir will hit the market by May 20. Two companies have already started producing it," he said.

"We have our all-out supports to the companies to go for maximum production and also the entrepreneurs to come forward," he added.

Before the coronavirus hit Bangladesh, only two to three companies used to produce Hydroxychloroquine on a limited scale, but now at least 35 companies are producing it.

To end the crisis of PPE, the DGDA took the initiative to make its import duty free and now the import of raw materials for PPE has also been made duty free, said Mahbubur.

"Many companies are producing PPE locally and we are encouraging them by various means. We have authorised five labs to check the quality of the products both local and import," he said.

He recommended that informative and positive reports regarding frontline fighters should be published in the mass media to encourage them.

The DGDA is working closely with the drug companies so that once a vaccine is developed, it can be made readily available in the country.

"We have the capacity to fill and finish 10 million doses of vaccine per month. We are trying to get the vaccine as soon as possible whenever an effective vaccine in the market," he said.

The DGDA supervises and implements all the prevailing drug regulations in the country and regulates all activities related to import, procurement of raw and packaging materials.