An Appeal to DCGI – and others

Context :

Recent news papers are full of reports of shortage – leading to BLACK MARKETING – of Remdesivir

Officially priced at Rs 5400 per vial , it is being sold at Rs 50,000 – Rs 60,000

For details, read :

Vital Covid-19 drug Remdesivir sells at ten times its market 

Drug Regulator warns against black-marketing of Covid drug Remdesivir 

‘Curb black marketing of remdesivir’, says DGCI

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Ø  Shri V G Somani, Drug Controller General of India ( DCGI )

dci@nic.in  /  se.reddy@nic.in 

Ø  The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization ( CDSCO )

arunsharma@csco.nic.in  /  pbn.prasad@cdsco.nic.in  / bangaru@cdsco.nic.in

Ø  Smt  Shubhra Singh ,

     Chairperson , The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India ( NPPA )

    Chairman.nppa@nic.in

Ø  Dr T P Lahane, Directorate of Medical Education and Research ( DMER )

     dmerps@gmail.com  /  dmercetcell@gmail.com

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Dear Friends,

News paper reports speak of your efforts to expedite the supply of Remdesivir , in order to match the huge demand ( which is exceeding the supply ), that is enabling the anti-social elements to corner the limited supply

But it will take some months before the SUPPLY matches / exceeds the DEMAND

Till such time, what can be done ( beyond issuing warnings ), to prevent Black Marketing ?

I envisaged such a “ Shortage Scenario “ in respect of COVAXIN vaccine, which is expected to be launched on 15^th Aug

In my following blog / email ( to Cabinet Ministers ) , I suggested following to prevent black marketing in Covid Vaccine :

     Rationing of Covid Vaccine ?  ……………………………………………..[  06 July 2020  ]

Extract :

Besides using such exhaustive data for all ( Covid infected or not ) in order for AI software to tell us the “ priorities for vaccination “, what else should the Government do ensure that there is no “ black marketing “ of the limited supplies of the vaccine ?

Answer :

    Ø  Today , each strip / bottle of a medicine carries “ batch number “

   Ø  For vaccine , each bottle / vial , besides carrying Batch Number , must carry

       UNIQUE bottle number / vial number . Vaccine Manufacturer will record which bottle got

       dispatched to which drug store / when. Data will get automatically transmitted to Govt’s

       Central Server

  Ø  Pharmacy Stores to maintain Computerized Record of who ( which person ) was sold a

      given “ Vial Number “ . This data will get automatically transmitted to Govt’s Central Server

 Ø  No vial to be sold to anyone unless a Mobile App ( VaccineVend  ? ) clearly displays that person’s priority  ( as determined by AI ) , as HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW . No person without such Mobile App will be sold the vaccine

 Ø  Chemist will enter sale-details in customer / buyer’s Mobile App , which will get automatically transmitted to Govt’s Central Server

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I urge you to consider my suggestion , in order to save precious lives.

Developing / launching such a technology platform within 4 weeks, is no big deal . Our big

software companies have developed / launched far more complicated platforms

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  10  July  2020