Akums launches sickle cell anaemia drug for 1% of global price

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said: “PM NarendraModi Ji had launched the Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission in 2023.

The petitioner had argued that prescribed medications come with side effects, which have the “potential to do much harm” (Representational Image)

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Akums on Saturday announced that it had launched the country’s first indigenous hydroxyurea oral solution, which is used for the treatment of sickle cell disease in children. The company said that the drug will be provided to the government at the cost of R600, which is nearly 1% of the R77,000 that the medicine currently available globally costs.

Another major benefit of the suspension manufactured by Akums is that it is stable at room temperature, unlike its global counterpart that requires storage in 2-8 o Celsius.

“Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals has achieved a grtoundbreaking milestone: the development of India’s first room temperature stable oral suspension of Hydroxyurea… Akums pledges to provide this life-changing medicine to the government at a cost of less than INR600,” the company said in its announcement.

The company did not mention the price for the medicine in general market.

This, however, is an important step as the government now has a mission to eliminate Sickle Cell Disease, which focuses not only screening people so that those carrying the trait do not get married with each other but also providing treatment to those who already have the disease. Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited blood disorder that changes the shape of red blood cells, making them sickle-shaped and unable to carry required amount of oxygen through the body. Hydroxyurea helps keep the red blood cells rounder and bigger to enable them to carry oxygen.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said: “PM NarendraModi Ji had launched the Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission in 2023. This medicine will prove to be a boon especially for our tribal sisters, brothers and children and we will soon free India from sickle cell.”

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