“We are tying to work against time.”
A senior company executive at Hetero Drugs, another company that has been awarded the contract to supply tenofovir/lamivudine tablets under the latest tender, blamed NACO for a lack of planning and delaying the approval process.
“I have all the respect for our ministries, but when you’re looking at HIV patients, who can’t be deprived even for a single day, this is not an effective way of handling the system,” said the executive, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
CHILDREN’S’ DRUG SUPPLY AT RISK
Documents accessed by Reuters also showed that NACO in June raised a demand for another medicine, lopinavir/ritonavir syrup, which is manufactured by companies including Indian pharma giant Cipla and given to children infected with HIV.
Another NACO official, who did not wish to be identified, said the tender for the syrup was pending approval.
The program’s current stock of the syrup will reach its drug expiration date by the end of this month, forcing the government to discard unused bottles, the official said.
To meet the urgent need, the Clinton Health Access Initiative of the Clinton Foundation was diverting 1,200 bottles of the syrup from Nigeria and Cipla has been asked to supply 2,000 bottles under a corporate social responsibility program, the official said.
The NACO official said Cipla was slow to submit tender documents, which led to a delay in approval.
The company declined to comment on NACO’s allegation.
“Once the applications are checked, NACO will place orders,” a Cipla spokeswoman said via email. “No orders have been placed by NACO so far. It is believed that this process will take two months.” [eap_ad_3]
