Paracetamol, syringes, gloves may be in short supply as LPG curbs disrupt pharma manufacturing

How gas powers your pill

The Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Indian Drug Manufacturers Association and the Federation of Pharma Entrepreneurs have submitted their representations to the ministries urging that there should be no disruption or rationing of LPG and PNG supply to the pharmaceutical industry. Any disruption would immediately impact the manufacturing of critical medicines for the country as well as the global market, considering the gases are used for several critical processes in drug manufacturing.

An industry expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “You need LPG for several manufacturing processes such as boilers, granulation, sterilisation among others. Most MSMEs — which constitute a large chunk of the industry — completely depend on LPG or PNG, whereas bigger companies may have provisions to use electricity for some of it.”

These disruptions, according to the expert, are likely to hit manufacturing immediately. The impact on the market, however, is likely to be visible within a couple of months. The expert said, “Most companies have a stock for 15 to 30 days, with the bigger companies maintaining stocks for three months, sometimes six. But if manufacturing doesn’t continue, the effect is likely to be visible in a couple of months.”

Petrochemicals needed for medicines

The government order to curtail supply of certain petrochemicals in favour of increased production for household gas supply has also hit the production of several key medicines and medical equipment. The most urgent of this shortage being that of refinery grade propylene — needed for the production of pharmacopoeia-grade Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA), which is needed for coating in several commonly used medicines.

The Reliance Industries refinery in Jamnagar, which provides the refinery grade propylene, has already implemented the government order, cutting off most IPA manufacturers. The possibility of import is also unlikely from a Singaporean company as it has invoked a force majeure on propylene supply.

Around 200 manufacturers will have to stop production in the next seven to 10 days, latest by the end of the month, after they exhaust their stored supply, according to a representation to the pharmaceutical department by Centre for Domestic Economy Policy Research (CDEP).

“The challenge with pharmaceutical grade IPA is that it cannot really be imported because of its susceptibility to getting contaminated. And the LPG gain with this measure is not worth stopping production of critical medicines. Diverting all the propylene needed for IPA production will only add 0.36% to the national monthly LPG demand but it will lead to complete shutdown of IPA manufacturing and consequently disrupt production of drugs in at least 14 therapeutic categories listed in the National List of Essential Medicines,” said Dr Jaijit Bhattacharya, president, CDEP.

The organisation also pointed out that disruption in the supply of benzene — and consequently other materials whose synthesis depends on it — affected the manufacturing of several active pharmaceutical ingredients, including the common fever medicine paracetamol.

Propylene and benzene are needed for several medical products, including gloves, PPE kits and syringes. “The manufacturing of these items will also be impacted if the petrochemicals do not become available,” according to another source.