Arriving today: High-value Tocilizumab enough for 20 patients

Nagpur: Fresh stock of Tocilizumab injections, which are in demand for treatment of Covid patients, is likely to reach the city on Saturday. It was last available here on April 12. However, the expected 500 vials would just be enough to meet the demands of around 20 patients.

It’s learnt that the Tocilizumab vials, each costing around Rs 41,700, would reach the Nagpur depot of the company’s carrying and forwarding agent. The stock is meant for entire Vidarbha, Marathwada and Chhattisgarh.

According to a highly placed source, Nagpur district’s allotment would be just 20. The sources stated that many people are ready to pay any price over and above the maximum retail price as the drug is known to be the last line of defence against Covid.

Though other varieties like Bevacizumab and Infliximab are available, their effectiveness did not reach the popularity of either Tocilizumab or Alzumab. But even Alzumab, costing around Rs 31,500, is in short supply. According to an insider in the pharmaceutical market, fresh stock of the Indian-made Alzumab is expected to arrive only on May 6.

Dr Rajesh Atal, critical care specialist and senior consultant at the Orange City Hospital and Research Institute, said Tocilizumab can be used only in the patients who have cytokine storm (aggravated response of the immune system) and no other bacterial infections.

“The drug is good enough to destroy the virus but it can also suppress the immune system which in turn can aggravate any other bacterial infections in the body that can again turn fatal. One should use Tocilizumab only after ensuring the patient is suffering from no other infections for which prior tests must be done,” said Dr Atal.

Dr Atal said other drugs of the same type like Alzumab, Bevacizumab and so on act on different levels of the inflammation to reduce the cytokine storm. “Tocilizumab was earlier used for other disorders related to abnormal immune system like rheumatoid arthritis but we have extrapolated it’s use to treat Covid complexities,” he said.

Dr Nitin Shinde, infection disease specialist, extolled Tocilizumab as a drug but said it has to be administered during a specific ‘window period’ for it to be effective. “It is a good drug to fight mortality if administered at the right time. We are treating a lot of younger patients this time around,” said Dr Shinde who is associated with the Alexis Multispecialty Hospital.