Many hospitals in Kolkata are left with huge stocks of monoclonal antibody cocktail therapy drugs for Covid and personal protective equipment (PPE) suits, which are of little use now.
The cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab were in high demand among Covid patients in January, when the Omicron-driven third wave was at its peak.
Many patients got themselves admitted to private hospitals to be administered the monoclonal antibody cocktail therapy drug. To meet the demand, many private hospitals had ordered the drug in bulk.
However, experts soon said the Casirivimab-Imdevimab cocktail was not effective for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“The cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab was used to prevent severe disease in Covid patients who were infected with the delta variant of the virus and had mild symptoms,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, an infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.
“But the drug was not effective for the omicron variant and so we stopped prescribing the therapy (during the third wave) as an overwhelming number of patients were infected with omicron. Till date, there is no other use of this cocktail therapy that we know of.”
This has resulted in stocks lying unused at the hospital. The manufacturers, officials at the hospital said, have refused to take back the stocks, worth Rs 10 lakh.
“We were forced to purchase the cocktail in bulk because of the high demand and an increase in Covid cases during the third wave. There were lots of panic purchases including vaccines, PPE suits, masks and monoclonal antibody cocktail drugs,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
Belle Vue Clinic has stocks of the monoclonal cocktail therapy drug worth Rs 1.02 crore.
“These stocks cannot be returned, according to the agreement with the manufacturers. These doses will go to waste,”said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.
The demand for the drug was high in January, Tondon said, with 30 to 40 Covid patients being administered the cocktail daily. “We had to procure the drug (in bulk) because of the high demand. Also, the manufacturer had said the order of a minimum amount had to be placed, otherwise they would not deliver,” he said.
The hospital also has PPE suits worth Rs 10,000, he said.
The PPE suits, however, have no expiration date and can be used later.
Some hospitals said they had planned procurement of the cocktail therapy drug anticipating a sharp drop in Covid cases and hence, are not saddled with too many doses.
“We did foresee a drop in Covid cases and planned our procurement likewise. At the moment, we have stocks of the monoclonal antibody cocktail therapy drug for just two patients. We have large stocks of PPE suits, and we are looking at the possibility to use them after full re-sterilisation,” said Rupali Basu, managing director & CEO, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital.