As COVID-19 cases rise in India, black marketers thrive

17 September 2020

Amid unprecedented demand, the supply of tocilizumab has dried up in India. As India's coronavirus cases surge past the five million mark on Wednesday after the Ministry of Health reported a single-day jump of 90,123 cases, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has requested the Drug Controllers of all states to take immediate measures to prevent black marketing of remdesivir injections and has asked doctors not to prescribe tocilizumab randomly, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

Issues on hoarding and black marketing have raised concerns about the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, with the Department of Pharmaceuticals' (DoP) Secretary PD Vaghela urging for an urgent review of the implementation of marketing ethics and code of conduct in the drug distribution system.

The move comes against the backdrop of US drug developer Novavax (Nasdaq: NVAX) doubling its potential COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity to two billion doses annually under an agreement with the Serum Institute of India.

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