Black fungus disease, or Mucormycosis, has become one of the most serious sequelae for those who recovers from COVID-19. And that brings a shortage of Amphotericin B raw material.
It is reported that there were more than 31,000 cases of “black fungus” infections in India in June, 2021. This is a rare and extremely dangerous disease with a fatality rate of 50%, especially for people with weakened immunity, such as patients with diabetes, cancer, AIDS or other immune system diseases, as well as patients with long-term use of cytotoxic drugs and corticosteroids. Local experts in India believe that the mucormycosis in patients is related with the use of steroid drugs during the treatment of COVID-19.
Amphotericin B is one of the most effective medicine for black fungus disease. Once mucormycosis is suspected, Amphotericin B at an initial dose of 1mg is initially given slowly over 10–15 minutes into a vein, then given as a once daily dose according to body weight for the next 14 days.It may need to be continued for longer. The biggest problem in India at present is the lack of medicnes. Although India have good pharmaceutical companies producing generic medicines well, the key raw material for black fungus disease treatment,Amphotericin B, is not produced in India.
China is one main source of Amphotericin B raw material. This is a medicine rarely used in common days, and the production procedure takes more than 3 weeks, so although the China local factories are doing production immediately, there is still a shortage. It is estimated that the situation of Amphotericin B tight supply will maintain at least 3 months.