'Wala tayong magagawa': Global demand squeezing supply of tocilizumab - Galvez

Katrina Domingo, ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA - The Philippines is having a hard time securing more supplies of tocilizumab due to the high global demand for the drug, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Thursday.</p><p>Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, the manufacturer of the drug being used in severe cases of COVID-19, could no longer accommodate additional orders, Galvez told President Rodrigo Duterte in a taped address.</p><p>&quot;Kinausap na po natin yung ambassador of Switzerland 2 months ago. Yung Roche, yung gumagawa nito... mayroon na silang mga allocated supplies,&quot; he said.</p><p>(We spokes to the Swiss ambassador 2 months ago. Roche, which makes these drugs, already have allocated supplies.)</p><p>&quot;Sa atin, 5,000 lang ang allocation before. Dinoble po nila ng 10,000 every month. Talagang wala po tayong makukuha kasi global supply ang ano [issue] natin,&quot; he said.</p><p>(They used to allocate 5,000 to the Philippines before. They doubled it to 10,000 every month. We really can;t get more because it&#x27;s a global supply issue.)</p><p>&quot;Wala tayong magagawa, sir.&quot;</p><p>(We can&#x27;t do anything, sir.)</p><p>The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said it expects tocilizumab to remain scarce until the end of 2021.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/09/02/21/tocilizumab-supply-to-remain-low-until-december-doh">Tocilizumab supply to remain low until December: DOH</a></li></ul><p>“Kausap na namin ang manufacturers nito, ang Roche Philippines, and they gave us that declaration na hanggang end of the year mukhang mahihirapan na maka-access pa ng gamot na ito,” DOH Spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an earlier virtual briefing.</p><p>(We are talking to one of its manufacturers, Roche Philippines, and they said that its supply would remain low until the end of the year. We think that a lot of people would have difficulty accessing this drug.)</p><p>Tocilizumab is the generic name of an anti-inflammatory drug currently used by doctors worldwide to treat severe and critical COVID-19 patients.</p><p>In the Philippines, two brands are available, Actemra of Roche and Temziva, distributed by Biocare Life Sciences.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/03/21/doh-eyes-other-covid-19-drugs-as-tocilizumab-scarce">DOH eyes alternative COVID-19 drugs as Tocilizumab scarce &#x27;til end 2021</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1762715" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The Philippines is having a hard time securing more supplies of tocilizumab due to the high global demand for the drug, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Thursday.

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'Wala tayong magagawa': Global demand squeezing supply of tocilizumab - Galvez

'Wala tayong magagawa': Global demand squeezing supply of tocilizumab - Galvez

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 16, 2021 11:02 AM PHT

Read More:

Carlito Galvez

COVID-19

COVID19

tocilizumab

Roche tocilizumab

coronavirus

tocilizumab supply

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