In a virtual overnight decision, the Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited (BCPL) was issued a licence to manufacture hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that is being used in the treatment of COVID-19 , on Friday.
The decision comes in the wake of reports that the profit-making unit, in spite of being the only government undertaking to manufacture anti-malarial drugs in the country, did not have a licence to manufacture hydroxychloroquine. The Hindu reported on April 9 that the company was idling, awaiting orders to start producing hydroxychloroquine. BCPL is reputed as India’s first pharmaceutical company.
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Friday’s order from the Directorate of Drug Control, Government of West Bengal allowed BCPL to manufacture hydroxychloroquine tablets. The public sector undertaking has a facility to make tablets at Maniktala.
“We got the licence only a few hours ago from the Drug Controller. Now we can manufacture it subject to the availability of raw material,” P.S. Chadraiah, Managing Director, BCPL, told The Hindu on Friday.
The company was manufacturing chloroquine phosphate and the management had assured that it could rise to the occasion and make hydroxychloroquine, which was just another formulation, if it got a licence and orders. After reports emerged of the company not using its optimum capacity, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised the issue. “What is Bengal Chemicals doing?” she asked on Thursday.
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Not enough raw stock
However, even with the licence, BCPL does not have adequate raw materials for production. “We do not have the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) which is available with a few companies in India or is imported from China. Since it is not possible to import from China we are asking both the State and Centre to help us procure it,” Mr. Chandraiah said.
BCPL officials said a few pharma companies such as Cadila and Ipca may have the API and the company was trying to source that. Mr. Chandraiah said with the API, the company could manufacture about 10 lakh tablets a day.
Meanwhile, BCPL’s trade unions have welcomed the initiative. Mrinal Roychowdhury, representing the CITU-affiliated Bengal Chemical Sramik Karmachari Union welcomed the development.
Bengal Chemicals was set up by chemist and entrepreneur Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy in 1901. While there has been talk of a strategic sale of the company, the PSU, with 300 employees, has posted profits for the past few years. In 2018-19 it made a profit of ₹25 crore.