Q: My 5 years old daughter is a thalassaemia major and needs blood transfusion every 20 days. She also requires 2 vials of Desferal 0.5 gm every day. Could you please tell me when is Exjade expected in India and what will be its cost?

A:Exjade is the brand name; the name of the medicine is Deferasirox. It is a patented product of Novartis and hence cannot be manufactured by another company in India as per the commitment made by the Government of India. Even if and when introduced in India, it will not cost much less than in Britain i.e. about Rs. 8,500 for 28 tablets of 125 mg each.