Drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices made by Indians
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Trientine/ D-Pencillamine
MSN Laboratories/ 2019
Over two years after patients of a rare genetic condition called Wilson’s Disease suffered due to acute shortage of a life-saving drug called D-Pencillamine across the country, there is finally a reason to cheer. An Indian company has begun manufacturing a drug called Trientine, which is considered superior to D-Pencillamine due to fewer side-effects, at a fraction of its international price.
What makes this new drug launch an emotional event is the behind-the-scenes lobbying by a group of parents, an NGO and a doctor from Mumbai who worked to convince Hyderabad-based MSN Laboratories to take up the manufacture of Trientine.
At a time when stories of the greed of pharmaceutical companies abound, this is a positive instance of pharmaceutical support. Dr Aabha Nagral, a hepatologist who set up NGO Children’s Liver Foundation, said a couple of children had to stop treatment when the drug shortage occurred in 2016.
‘Firm involved in social work; not driven by profits’
We organised a picnic for our patient group where two youngsters shared that they had no drugs at that time and were worried about the future,” said Dr Nagral, who has treated approximately 100 Wilson’s Disease patients in her care at any given time.
The Ranes from Vile Parle, too, recall how their daughter Gauri was hospitalised a few times during the shortage. “Fluid would get accumulated in her abdomen, requiring hospitalisation. It was a traumatising time as her liver was failing quickly,” said Satish Rane. Luckily, she got a cadaveric liver donation and is doing well since the transplant a year ago.
Rajesh S (name changed), a 45-year-old research scientist, was diagnosed with Wilson’s Disease a year back. “We had heard of shortages and expensive medicines costing almost Rs 1 lakh for 100 tablets but we now pay Rs 16,000 for 100 tablets,” said his wife.
The turnaround took months of gathering information and planning. After the shortage was fixed by the Union government’s directive to pharmaceutical companies in August 2016, Dr Nagral and the patient group actively started to seek information about Trientine. They heard from pharmaceutical agents that the active ingredient for Trientine was manufactured in an Indian company and exported to multinational companies located overseas.
“We applied through RTI to the Union ministry of information on the manufacture of Trientine and D-Pencillamine, but got little,” said Dr Nagral. That is when they began to directly appeal to pharmaceutical companies for help. MSN Laboratories, which has been manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients for export purposes for years, decided to help out. Ajit Bhadauria of MSN Laboratories said the company didn’t take up the manufacture of Trientine for profits. “It is purely a part of our social work as a pharmaceutical company,” he said.
