The Centre has identified four institutions for developing shikimic acid, the basic raw material used for making swine flu drug Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), currently being imported by drug manufacturers. Delhi University, Punjab-based National Institute of Pharma Education and Research and IIT Delhi are among the four institutes, which have begun R&D activities on producing shikmic acid. The fourth institution is, most likely, Mumbai-based IIT Powai, according to health ministry officials.
In its endeavour to indigenously produce shikimic acid, the government had constituted an expert group at the Indian Council of Medical Research and proposals were invited from various Indian institutions on their capabilities to discover a process of producing the raw material. ?Most of the institutes have begun the process in their labs, they only have to scale up the process,? health ministry sources said.
Shikimic acid, currently being extracted from a Chinese star anise tree, is in short supply as demand for oseltamivir has multiplied manifold with the spread of the pandemic. The government of China has reportedly asked companies supplying and exporting shikimic acid to obtain prior approval before supplying any information regarding the natural extract?s stock position to the public. China is currently the largest supplier of the raw material.
According to estimates, around 70% of shikimic acid is being sourced from plants, while the remaining 30% is obtained from genetically-engineered E Coli. The prices of shikimic acid, which was earlier priced at $40 a kg, have now increased manifold and costs around $1,000 per kilogram, industry sources said. Also, the government has raised the national stockpile of Tamiflu to 40 million tablets and 4.5 syrups from 10 million tablets. The material for another six million capsules is kept under a banking arrangement with pharma companies.
The government has also allowed restricted the retail sale of Tamiflu through 480 chemists through the country which hold licenses to stock and sell drugs falling under schedule X. In a related development, the government has reached out to the three domestic H1N1 vaccine developers?Serum Institute, Panacea Biotec and Bharat Biotech?and made an advance purchase commitment to procure vaccines worth Rs10 crore from each player.
