Telangana deregulates anti-Black Fungus drug

Hospitals can source injection from distributors

Days after the Centre informed the States and Union Territories of its decision to discontinue allocation of anti-Mucormycosis drug Liposomal Amphotericin B to them, Telangana government has deregulated allotment of the injection. The State government had through a committee, headed by a senior official, was regulating allotment of the drug used in treatment of the fungal infection or Black Fungus as Mucormycosis is also known. Besides Liposomal Amphotericin B, Posaconazole and Isavuconazole were other drugs whose allotment was regulated by the committee. The move followed a demand for these drugs, especially Liposomal Amphotericin B, amid an increase in the number of people contracting Mucormycosis. There were also reports of black marketing of the injection. But with improved availability of the medicine and decline in fresh cases of the fungal infection, the Centre recently conveyed its decision to discontinue allocation and advised the States and Union Territories to procure the drug from the manufacturers and importers.