Update on capreomycin and kanamycin supply by the Global Drug Facility

15 January 2012 - Geneva - In May 2011 the Global Drug Facility (GDF) issued a warning regarding an expected shortfall in supply and temporary delays in delivery of capreomycin.

GDF now anticipates improvement in the supply of capreomycin because it has qualified a new company, Vianex, for supply of this drug following a positive quality-risk assessment result by an expert review panel.

Therefore as of February 2012, GDF will have two qualified suppliers of capreomycin: Akorn, in the United States of America and Vianex in Greece.

On kanamycin: currently GDF has only one approved source: Meiji, Japan. This manufacturer's production capacity is limited, but dossiers are currently under review for two additional manufacturers.

Clients wishing to order capreomycin or kanamycin will need to follow standard GDF lead times. They must place an order and deposit the requisite amount of funds to our procurement agent before any procurement commences; and must allow for a manufacturing period of 4 to 6 months from the date of receipt of funds, plus 2 weeks for air freight. Orders are prioritized on the basis of the date that payment is received. Within 5 working days following payment, clients are informed about the projected delivery date.

Courtesy of funding from UNITAID, GDF has developed a stockpile of second-line drugs which will include capreomycin and kanamycin later in 2012, once the supply situation improves.

Capreomycin and kanamycin are not yet available from the GDF Stockpile, so emergency requests can unfortunately not be considered at this time.

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For more information, please write to: gdfprs@who.int.