Fever Power

The market for anti-flu drug Oseltamivir in India has grown over 3x in the past three years, with Cipla, Hetero and Macleods being the biggest gainers

- NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA

IT’S THAT TIME of the year again when the spread of influenza reaches fever pitch. And with the flu season on us, can medication to treat it be far behind? Data from Pharmarack, an integrated B2B healthcare platform, reveals that sales of antiviral drug Oseltamivir, commonly known as Tamiflu, has seen healthy growth in the past three months. In December 2022, at least 227,000 units of the drug were sold, which shot up to 294,000 units in January 2023 and 395,000 units in February 2023, with a value of ₹9.7 crore, ₹12.8 crore and ₹29 crore, respectively.

The uptick in sales can be linked to the rising flu cases in the country. According to the data available on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme-Integrated Health Information Platform (IDSP-IHIP) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a total of 3,038 laboratory-confirmed cases of various subtypes of influenza, including H1N1 and H3N2, had been reported till March 9, 2023, by the states.