Date Time: 2023-03-19 09:51:14

IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

CORONAVIRUS – IMPACT ON PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

The mysterious coronavirus now termed as COVID – 19 outburst in the China city Wuhan, and its spreading fast to many other countries, endangers thousands of lives daily.

The coronavirus impact has outburst in India’s pharmaceutical sector at a very wide pace. It is affecting the pharma companies with certain hikes in the prices of key ingredients.

As pharmaceutical companies are facing many disturbances due to prolonged factory closures in China. The Niti Aayog, Policy makers has recently called a meeting with top drug manufacturers and policy makers to discuss with the options for domestic manufacturers which may reduce the dependency on China for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

Some of the top drug manufacturer including Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals,  Mylan Laboratories,  Zydus healthcare, Pfizer, and Biocon attended the meeting scheduled to find out the solutions to meet the future problems related to dependency on China.

As per the latest data given by Drug Regulatory Authority around 57 API’s like:

1. Antibiotics : Azithromycin, Amoxicillin, Ofloxacin, Metronidazole
2. Vitamins: Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin E
3. Steroids

4: Progesterone

5. Anti-cardiac Drug: Atorvastatin

CORONAVIRUS : LETS UNDERSTAND WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS??

Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that cause illness extending from common cold to more severe diseases such as respiratory syndrome. Coronavirus is currently the major stress as it has never been identified in humans earlier.

Coronavirus is transmitted between animals and humans such as bats, civet cats.

The new name of the disease coronavirus, is now abbreviated as COVID-19. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona and ’ ‘VI’ stands for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ stands for disease.

HOW CORONAVIRUS SPREADS IN AN HUMAN BEING??

COVID-19, The coronavirus is spread from one person to the other. It generally spreads between people who are in close contact with each other via respiratory droplets produced through coughing and sneezing within the area of 6-7  feet’s.

It is also possible to spread from the contact of infected surface or object through touching. Sometimes the viruses are contagious and spreads easily from one another. In China, it seems that virus is spreading easily.

SYMPTOMS OF CORONAVIRUS

Centre of Disease Control (CDC) believes that according to the current scenario the symptoms of coronavirus particularly named as COVID-19 may appear in an individual for few days, say 2 days or as long as for 14 days after exposure. This is based up on the symptoms previously seen in the patients. Common symptoms of coronavirus are as follows:

1. MILD SYMPTOMS: Some of the common signs of coronavirus infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
2. SEVERE SYMPTOMS: In severe cases, coronavirus infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

PREVENTION & TREATMENT FOR CORONAVIRUS

At present there is no vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease. The best way to prevent the illness now is to avoid being exposed to the people suffering from this virus. However, as a reminder, Centre of Disease Control recommends everyday preventive actions including:

• Avoid contact with people who are affected with the virus.
• Avoid direct touch to your eyes, mouth and nose frequently.
• Avoid going to public places when you are sick.
• Cover your nose while coughing or
• Clean the touched objects on a regular bases to avoid infected surfaces.
• Use a facemask.
• Wash your hands with soap or hand wash at least for 20 seconds.

WRAPPING IT UP

Almost 70% to 80% of the raw materials that are used in India by drug manufacturing are imported from China. A lot of India’s pharmaceutical intermediates used by top manufacturers are valued by a chain that is interlinked to China.

Many big pharmaceutical manufacturers have a viewpoint that if this coronavirus continues for more than a month or 45 days, that will incorporate a huge amount of issue for the pharma sector.

The coronavirus that started in Wuhan has infected more than 75,000 people around the world, mostly in mainland China. The death toll is more than 2,000.

China is slowly getting back to work, but some plants in the country remain closed. It could be weeks or months before global supply chains fully recover.

India is the world’s biggest exporter of generic drugs, sending huge volumes.