CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is set to receive 1,000 more Tocilizumab drugs from the USA by next week, according to Dr. P Umanath, MD of TN medical service corporation. The drug is used to treat Covid patients to reduce inflammation in the body.
“300 Tocilizumab drugs, which is manufactured only by 'Roche' in US, have been received for government hospitals so far, " he said.
The decision to import the drugs was made in the wake of high demand for this immunosuppressive drug, used for Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disorder. Many people on Twitter too had sought help to find these drugs. Some people even traveled hundreds of kilometres to get the drug.
While it is touted to be a ‘wonder drug’ seeing the rise in demands, experts say that it’s efficacy is still not known and is under trial globally.
Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Ram Gopalakrishnan of Apollo Hospitals said that Tocilizumab is a drug not yet proven to work for Covid-19 and must be used carefully. “Randomised control trials are the gold standard for proof and results for this are being awaited. As of now, the drug is being used based on the retrospective study. It is a lower standard of evidence and it is not accepted scientifically," said Dr. Gopalakrishnan, adding that the drug may be beneficial for severe Covid-19 patients who have cytokine storms.
“It can be used on people on ventilators whose inflammation levels are very high," Dr. Gopalakrishnan said, while warning that it still has side effects as it may hinder the immune system’s response to bacterial infections and lead to doubling the rate of infection.
Dr. Subramanian Swaminathan of Gleneagles Global Hospital says this is used when the Interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels are high in a patient as the drug has anti-IL-6 compounds.
“However, this can’t be used willy-nilly as there are chances of a hundred percent negative reactions as well. Wrong usage may lead to bacterial and fungal infections,’’ Dr. Swaminathan said.
Dr Swaminathan said that the drug can be used on patients in ventilators or those who showed no signs of recovery. The doctor however said that overall the survival rate after using this drug has been beneficial.
Meanwhile, Dr Gopalakrishnan advises that the drug dexamethasone has shown results in reducing the inflammation and chances of death. “It reduces chances of deaths by one-third for patients in ventilators and one-fifth for those on oxygen,’’ he said.
On complaints about the Tocilizumab drug sold in the black market, Director of Drug Control Department K Sivabalan said that severe action will be taken. “The MRP for the drug is 92,000 and it can’t be sold beyond that,’’ he said.
A few patients told The New Indian Express they came across the drug for being sold as high as Rs. 1.5 lakhs.