No permit to retailers to sell Tamiflu: Govt

The Centre on Wednesday made it clear that retail chemists cannot sell anti-influenza medicine Tamiflu either as a prescription drug or as an Over-The-Counter (OTC) product. “Retail sale of Oseltamivir Phosphate (Tamiflu) is not permitted. Chemists are not authorised to sell it,” said a health ministry official.

The stern message comes in the wake of reports that certain pharmaceutical shops in the capital are selling the medicine at a higher price taking advantage of people’s worries on the H1N1 outbreak. Few shops in the Central and South Delhi sold the medicine at three to four times the original price.

Vineet Chowdhary, a joint secretary in the Union Health Ministry said since all treatment with Tamilflu would happen under strict government supervision, retail sell of Tamiflu was not permitted at all. “Those are illegal sale and Drugs Controller General of India is examining the complaints,” he said.

Indiscriminate use of this could result in the virus developing resistance to the only known treatment of the H1N1 influenza, pointed out Shiv Lal, director of the National Institute of Communicable Disease. The Centre is maintaining a stockpile of this drug to be distributed free if the need arises.

Samples from five suspected cases collected from Bangalore, Kochi and Delhi were found negative. Three other persons – two from Hyderabad and one from Jalandhar – are under observation. So far, samples of 20 persons tested negative for Influenza H1N1.
Till Wednesday, the WHO has reported 1516 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza with 30 deaths from 22 countries.