Vetcare, a Bangalore-based animal healthcare major dealing in a range of drugs for the dairy sector has withdrawn diclofenac preparations from its product range which was banned by DCGI. The company did foresee the ban of the drug and wanted to be fully prepared to capitalize on the early mover advantage much before the drug was officially discontinued.

The main reason to take an instant action and stop the use of diclofenac and replace it Meloxicam was because of the company's critical presence in the Dairy drug sector where pain management medicines formed a critical component of its product range.

The company is the only vet pharma company in India dealing solely with animal healthcare products unlike other pharma companies which have spun off separate vet healthcare divisions. Therefore it is closely associated with Remount Veterinary Corps (RVC) of the Armed Forces. Vetcare apprised the RVC officials about the oncoming restrictions and its efforts to replace diclofenac with Meloxicam. "In the process we became the first company to supply an alternative to diclofenac," Bharat Tandon, managing director, Vetcare, a division of Tetragon Chemie Pvt. Ltd. told Pharmabiz.

Vetcare had two products in dairy sector containing diclofenac: injectable and oral drug. Using Meloxicam it has introduced an injectable in three packs (15, 30 and 90 ml) and has received a license for the oral drug. Meloxicam is far safer and effective.

Although diclofenac, is the 'drug of choice' for pain and inflammation management, it will still continue to be the most-sought after analgesic by doctors and surgeons to be prescribed for humans, informed Dr Romila Iyer, manager, business development, poultry, Vetcare.

Diclofenac, an NSAID, came in for a ban for veterinary use only because research reports pointed out that the vultures were dying with highe serum uric acid concentrations resulting in kidney damage and visceral gout conditions after consuming the carcasses of animals. When labs in India and abroad examined the tissue of dead vultures and it revealed the presence of diclofenac. This was serious issue as it would eventually lead to the extinction of vulture population which would affect the nature balance, informed Dr. Pawan Sood, Head Dairy Care, Vetcare.

This is the first ever ban for a single drug combination in pain management in the animal health segment. However there had been instances in the past where analgin fixed dose combinations were banned.

Meanwhile it is gathered that the veterinary drug companies in the country including Glaxo SmithKline, Sarabhai, Novartis, Pfizer and Wockhardt have received the intimation from the DCGI to stop the use of diclofenac.