Zanamivir sale curb worries doctors.....

    The government’s move to regulate the sale of Virenza (Zanamivir) in addition to Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) has doctors across India worried.The move to bring Zanamivir under the Schedule X category, which basically regulates its sale, will limit the availability of the drug, said doctors. While Tamiflu is available only at government hospitals, Virenza, a Cipla drug, is sold in 300 select medical stores in India only through a prescription.

   Sujeet Rajan, a respiratory physician at the Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences, said: "If private doctors have restricted access to Zanamivir, it will create problems when it comes to treatment. Ideally, treatment should begin within 48 hours of a person contracting the flu".

   If the government goes ahead with its plan to regulate the sale of Zanamivir, patients will have to produce two prescriptions, one which the chemist retains and the other that remains with the patient. The doctor also keeps a record. On August 28, the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) said it was important to avoid the ‘misuse’ of the drug.

   Easy access, added the DCGI, would defeat the purpose of restricted access to Tamiflu. Doctors have argued that since the private doctors have no access to Tamiflu, access to Virenza should not be blocked. "The government was to allow private hospitals to distribute Tamiflu to those patients who came in with symptoms and tested positive for swine flu. This has not happened and it is the patient who suffers".

   The government had proposed to identify private laboratories that could be authorized to conduct swine flu tests. This, barring a few states, has not taken place. The Maharashtra government, for instance, was to have given the go-ahead to some private labs that has not materialized.

     GSK Velu, MD of Metropolis Health Services, which has a significant presence in South and West India, said: “Our labs in Pune and Mumbai are fully equipped to conduct these tests though we have still not received approval from the government. We are testing samples only for specific requests.”

   The swine flu death toll touched 100 in India on Monday, while there were nearly 4,000 confirmed cases. Out of this, 1,600 came from Maharashtra alone, according to the health ministry. India is still in the midst of the first wave of the virus even as the World Health Organization (WHO) has been advising US and parts of Europe to prepare for a second wave of pandemic spread.
According to the WHO, over 2 lakh confirmed cases of swine flu have been reported from across the world till the end of last week with 2,100 deaths.

(1) Move to bring Virenza under Schedule X category will limit its availability, doctors say

(2) Tamiflu is available only at government hospitals.

(3) According to DCGI, easy access of Virenza would defeat the purpose of restricted access to Tamiflu.

(4) Doctors feel since private doctors have no access to Tamiflu, access to Virenza should not be blocked.