Private medical shops and hospital pharmacies in Tamil Nadu are facing a shortage of the life-saving drug, Lanoxin, used for the treatment of congestive heart failure. The drug which has the generic name, digoxin, is manufactured by GSK Pharmaceuticals India Ltd, Mumbai.

It has not been available in the market for the last three months. Whereas, in government hospitals it is available and even have stocks for a short period. The shortage of this drug has caused alarm among patients having chronic heart ailments.

Sources from the Pharmacy Department of the Madras Medical Mission said they are not getting the drug for the last three months. The senior manager of Pharmacy Division, Apollo Hospitals Chennai said they have been taking steps to get the drug for the last three months, but was not available anywhere in the state.

Sources from the Frontier Lifeline and Dr Cherian Heart Foundation, Chennai, a Centre for Cardiothoracic and Vascular Diseases, said the medicine was in short supply during the last two months but have now started receiving it.

B Arumugam, president of Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association (TNCDA) said they got confirmation from the dealers that the drug would be ready for sale in another two days. He further said all the private pharmacies in Tamil Nadu are facing same situation with regard to digoxin

C & F agent of GSK and a Lanoxin dealer in Tamil Nadu, R Sreenivasan said that his company had taken measures to meet the shortage of the drug in the state. The dealer said the production of this medicine was halted temporarily because of the non availability of raw materials. "We will get the sufficient stock in a few days and measures are being taken for immediate despatching to various retailers in the state," he told Pharmabiz.

Dr V Kanagasabai, dean of the Government Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai said that there is sufficient stock of the drug with the hospital's store and there is no shortage in government hospitals. The drug is supplied to the government hospitals by Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation.

When contacted the GSK in Mumbai, a senior officer from the company told Pharmabiz that the problem has now been resolved. "The drug has been in short supply due to non-availability of raw material which is imported. We have been able to procure the raw material and the drug is now available in the market," he said.