Information has just been released by the Drug Administration of Vietnam (Ministry of Health) on the morning of May 23 regarding drugs to treat Botulinum toxin poisoning.
Botulinum poisoning is poisoning caused by infection with the toxin of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. This poisoning is very rare in Vietnam and in the world. The main cause is that the patient is infected with bacterial toxins in poor quality food, eating poorly preserved foods. From 2020 to now, there have been a few cases per year, recently there have been some cases in Ho Chi Minh City.
Because this disease is very rare, the supply of this medicine (BAT) in the world is also very rare. Therefore, this is a medicine that is not easy to proactively supply. Besides, the price of this medicine is also very high. BAT is not currently on the list of medicines covered by Insurance. In addition to licensing and importing regular commercial medicines, to ensure urgency, in 2020, to serve cases of Botulinum toxin infection due to the use of vegetarian pate containing toxins, the Ministry of Health (Department of Drug Administration) requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the search for BAT medicine supply and WHO provided very timely support with 10 vials of Botulism Antitoxin Heptavalent (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) - (Equine). This batch of medicine contributed to the timely treatment of patients.
Regarding the cases of botulinum poisoning in Ho Chi Minh City, upon receiving the report from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health on May 21, 2023, the Drug Administration of Vietnam promptly contacted, discussed and worked with WHO to support the resolution. With the enthusiastic support of the WHO Department of Universal Health Care, Environment and Healthy Lifestyles, WHO has determined that it can urgently provide some doses for Vietnam's urgent needs. WHO and relevant agencies of the Ministry of Health, hospitals with patients needing treatment for botulinum poisoning are working hard to complete the procedures to urgently receive this batch of medicine to treat patients.
In addition, the Drug Administration has also asked Cho Ray Hospital to contact import companies and suppliers to have additional sources of drug supply.
Regarding fundamental solutions, to be more proactive with anti-poisoning drugs in particular and drugs with limited supply in general, the Ministry of Health has reported and proposed to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister has agreed and directed the Ministry of Health to develop a mechanism to ensure rare drugs and drugs with limited supply. Among the solutions to be implemented, an important solution is to establish centers to store rare drugs in socio-economic regions and especially a mechanism to be able to pay for rare drugs in stock but expired because they are not used because there are no patients.
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