The price of Chinese raw materials Indian drug makers need to produce ivermectin has soared, a trade group says. Photo: Shutterstock via South China Morning Post
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As India struggles to contain the second wave of Covid-19, the price of some raw materials imported from China has risen dramatically in recent weeks, according to industry groups.
According to the heads of two trade groups, ingredients for paracetamol, which helps relieve fever, and certain antibiotics, including Azithromycin, have increased by 30 to 40% since the start of the second wave, reports South China Morning Post.
The price of raw materials for drugs used to treat Covid-19, such as ivermectin, has risen by as much as 300 percent, according to Ashok Kumar Madan, executive director of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association.
The demand for such drugs has increased as the number of new coronavirus infections has surpassed 350,000 every day, causing hospitals to run out of supplies.
Though medical supplies have arrived from all over the world, India still relies on China for the majority of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) it requires to manufacture drugs to treat Covid-19 and other health issues.
"India is importing almost 70 per cent of our requirements from China, so when the impact comes it's basically coming with the APIs from China &#; it is an increase in the API prices, it's an increase in the packing material prices, and there are issues that freight prices have gone up, both air and sea," Madan said.
Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said the spike in prices was due to both an increase in demand and logistical issues, like fewer cargo flights from China.
There had been a significant impact on the prices of ingredients for paracetamol and some antibiotics, he said. Hospitals use paracetamol to keep fever and pain down, while antibiotics can be used to treat secondary bacterial infections in Covid-19 patients.
"If the raw materials are delayed or prices go up, it affects everyone," Jain said. "With pharmaceutical products, one does not change the ingredients and suppliers easily, it has to continue in order to maintain supplies."
Madan said that last month's decision by China's Sichuan Airlines to stop cargo flights for 15 days over disease control concerns had "spiked fears" and driven up API prices.
Flights from the state-owned carrier are expected to fully resume service this week.
Despite the recent hitch, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar last month that China would help ease the transport of medical supplies.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday that Beijing was working to keep the supply chain stable and that "no side should destabilise the [global] supply chain".
India's consul general in Hong Kong Priyanka Chauhan on Wednesday called for more efforts from the Chinese government to stabilise the prices of medical supplies and keep cargo flights in the air.
Supply shortages have been a theme in the global fight against Covid-19, with several countries, including the US, being criticised for hoarding vaccine doses and large pharmaceutical companies being called on to share intellectual property for vaccines and drugs to boost availability.
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Jain said India's drug makers had been facing rising prices for key ingredients since the start of the pandemic and the situation was likely to remain difficult even after the spike in infections had levelled off.
"While the big companies continue because of their staying power, [the price rise] puts huge pressure on the small manufacturers," he said, adding that India's fixed pricing system for drugs meant the increases could not be passed on to consumers.
But both he and Madan said India's production capacity had not been hit, as drug makers strived to maintain consistency in supplies.
Madan said the industry was "taking things in its stride".
"Definitely we will be maintaining the production levels in the same capacity that is required so that we are able to cater to our domestic requirements and also we are able to meet our commitments for exports to other countries," he said. "We are not going to cut down any production."
w
/v
) feed concentration (F-1, F-3, F-5, F-7) and 125 mL for the formulations with 0.8% (w
/v
) feed concentration (F-2, F-4, F-6, F-8). The yield of all the spray-dried formulations was over 42%, with the maximum yield of ~60% for F-8, which was prepared in high feed concentration (0.8%w
/v
), a high inlet temperature (100 °C) and the presence of L-leucine (10%w
/w
). The yield for spray-dried formulation generally lies between 20 and 50% [w
/v
was 42.5%, 43.7%, 50.7% and 51.2%, whereas the yield for dry powder prepared at 0.8%w
/v
was higher with the values of 46.1%, 46.9%, 58.7% and 59.9%, respectively (at same inlet temperature and presence/absence of L-leucine). The increase in feed concentration allows less solvent to evaporate, which leads to more dry powder with less moisture content [w
/v
) is higher than F-1 (0.2%w
/v
). Additionally, the L-leucine-containing formulations (at the same inlet temperature and feed concentration) have a higher yield compared to the formulations without L-Leucine (42.5% vs. 43.7%), (46.1% vs. 46.9%), (50.7% vs. 51.2%) and (58.7% vs. 59.9%). L-leucine may have changed the cohesive force of the prepared dry powder and reduced the powder deposition on the spray dryer wall and more powder deposition in the collector [The yield, drug content and water content of spray-dried formulations are tabulated in Table 3 . The batch size was 500 mL for the formulations with 0.2% () feed concentration (F-1, F-3, F-5, F-7) and 125 mL for the formulations with 0.8% () feed concentration (F-2, F-4, F-6, F-8). The yield of all the spray-dried formulations was over 42%, with the maximum yield of ~60% for F-8, which was prepared in high feed concentration (0.8%), a high inlet temperature (100 °C) and the presence of L-leucine (10%). The yield for spray-dried formulation generally lies between 20 and 50% [ 32 ], and various parameters such as inlet temperature, feed concentration and the presence of excipients can influence the yield. For example, a higher yield can be obtained by increasing the inlet temperature and the feed concentration [ 40 ]. Additionally, the addition of L-leucine can also increase the yield of spray-dried powder [ 49 50 ]. The yield for dry powder prepared at 100 °C was 50&#;60% compared to the yield of 42&#;47% prepared at 80 °C. The reason behind obtaining a higher yield at high inlet temperature is that at high inlet temperature, the powder particles have low moisture content. As they have less moisture content, these powders have good flowability and are not sticky and do not remain in the spray-dryer wall [ 49 ]. However, the inlet temperature needs to be chosen in a way that does not cause any thermal degradation of the selected agent(s). The yield for dry powder prepared at 0.2%was 42.5%, 43.7%, 50.7% and 51.2%, whereas the yield for dry powder prepared at 0.8%was higher with the values of 46.1%, 46.9%, 58.7% and 59.9%, respectively (at same inlet temperature and presence/absence of L-leucine). The increase in feed concentration allows less solvent to evaporate, which leads to more dry powder with less moisture content [ 40 ]. Again, the high feed concentration produces larger particles because of more amounts of solid, which are easy to collect and increase the yield [ 40 ]. The higher value of feed concentration is mainly chosen in a way that the solid content is fully soluble in the solvent. Although the yield is normally lower with smaller batch size, the effect was not evident in this study, probably due to the influence of feed concentration. For example, the batch size of F-2 (125 mL) was smaller than F-1 (500 mL, but the yield of F-2 (46.1%) was larger than F-1 (42.5%) as the feed concentration of F-2 (0.8%) is higher than F-1 (0.2%). Additionally, the L-leucine-containing formulations (at the same inlet temperature and feed concentration) have a higher yield compared to the formulations without L-Leucine (42.5% vs. 43.7%), (46.1% vs. 46.9%), (50.7% vs. 51.2%) and (58.7% vs. 59.9%). L-leucine may have changed the cohesive force of the prepared dry powder and reduced the powder deposition on the spray dryer wall and more powder deposition in the collector [ 50 ].
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