Bengal Chemicals gears up to make key drug HCQ in battle against Covid-19

Firm faces major raw material crunch in catering to huge spike in demand for the drug; CII to explore feasibility of growing cinchona, from where the key ingredient is extracted

The country’s oldest pharmaceuticals company, Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BCPL), is suddenly in the spotlight due to the sudden demand for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), the most sought-after drug in the treatment of Covid-19.

BCPL was traditionally an HCQ manufacturer but ceased production decades back owing to cash constraints and labour issues. After China reported encouraging results of the drug on Covid-19 patients and the US asked India to supply the medicine in huge volumes to fight the pandemic on American soil, the demand for HCQ has risen suddenly globally. Other Covid-19-affected countries has also asked India to supply the medicine.

The company has already obtained a license from the West Bengal Drug Controller to go ahead with the manufacturing of this formulation. It is the only central public sector enterprise which can make HCQ and other anti-malarial drugs.

However, BCPL is faced with a serious shortage of raw materials.

As early as March 20, the firm has been scouting for raw material to make this medicine and help India fight Covid-19 but the response hasn’t been encouraging.

“We haven't had any success in procuring raw materials and this is a major constraint in the production of HCQ. Besides, we are a small company and our resources are limited,” he said.

Chandraiah explained that the raw material scarcity is because of the sudden surge in demand for HCQ which previously wasn’t the case.

“Imagine a situation when the demand for a certain tablet spikes from one million to 100 million suddenly. Will a company be able to cater to the demand if the necessary eco-system is not there,” he asked.

BCPL also has the license to make chloroquine phosphate, an anti-malarial drug that also treats Covid-19.

The key input for both of these drugs is the extract from the bark of the cinchona plant and some other synthetic chemicals.

Importantly, BCPL has exhausted all the raw material it previously had to make chloroquine phosphate and is now awaiting supplies.

“We had a total order of two million tablets from 15-16 state governments. We have been able to make around 800,000 tablets and will need more raw material,” he said.

With the current production capacity, BCPL can produce one million HCQ and chloroquine phosphate tablets every day.

Chandraiah said given BCPL’s operational and manpower constraints, it would be helpful if the local administration procured the raw material for BCPL.

The West Bengal government has stepped in to arrange for raw materials for pharma companies to make HCQ and has asked the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to submit a report on the feasibility of restarting cinchona plantations in Mongpu in Kurseong district. These plantations, spread over 9,600 acres, have been closed for over 15 years.

Founded in 1892, BCPL is India’s oldest pharmaceuticals company, and used to make several generic drugs. However, financial issues cropped up in 1965, following which the Centre eventually took it over in 1977.

Chandraiah said decades of working capital shortage, manpower and financial issues and industrial relations forced the company to discontinue manufacturing major generic drugs like HCQ.

In 2017, the Centre eventually decided to disinvest BCPL and turned the hcompany around.

In 2018-19, BCPL posted a turnover of Rs 120 crore with a profit of Rs 25 crore, up from a revenue of Rs 95 crore and profit of Rs 10 crore the previous year.