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The officials of health ministry said on Thursday that India will be manufacturing the raw materials required for the production of Oseltamivir, which is used as one among the drugs for the treatment of the H1N1/A viral infection, so that the drug will be available to the public at a lower cost.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, while addressing the media, said, "We have decided to allow indigenous production of Shikimic acid”.
Shikimic acid, the raw material required for developing Oseltamivir, is being imported by India currently. Azad mentioned that a group of Indian Council of Medical Research experts will be looking into the process.
He said proposals were received from various Indian institutions and the ministry has given approval to four of them.
ICMR Director General V.M. Katoch told that the proposals from four institutes, Delhi University, and Indian Institutes of Technology at Delhi and Mumbai and one more institute, have been approved.
He said China is also working on producing the natural source for the antivirals that can combat the H1N1 influenza virus.
"Our prices will of course be cheaper. We will be competing," he added.
"If we are able to produce our own raw material, then the cost of the medicine will naturally go down," he said.
Currently, a 10-tablet strip of the drug costs Rs.280 when bought over-the-counter.
