By IANS,
New Delhi : As swine flu cases continue to surge in the country, a pharma company Friday announced that it has pushed 1.25 million capsules of the drug to chemists across the country to combat the virus and it would be ready with 10 million such drugs by mid-October.
“We have launched Natflu capsules (generic version of Tamiflu – Oseltamivir), the first cure for swine flu to be available against medical prescription at designated chemists across India,” said V.C. Nannapaneni, chairman of Natco, a Hyderabad-based pharma company.
“You know swine flu has spread in India. We have launched 1.25 millions capsules of swine flu drug Natflu,” K. Srivastava, head of sales of the company told IANS.
Over 9,000 people have been affected by the contagious H1N1 virus so far, of which at least 280 have died. India reported its first swine flu case in Hyderabad in early May.
The company official said that the central government had given them the go ahead along with four other companies to supply these drugs to the government.
“The government said the tender will be equally distributed among five parties and we are ready to supply any number of doses to the government.”
Natco Pharma said it has manufacturing facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Dehradun and employs around 2,000 people.
Officials said they have entered into an agreement with Medplus, a chemist retail chain with required permission from the authorities, to sell the drug over-the-counter but only under medical prescription.