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NEW DELHI / AHMEDABAD: India has shipped 50 million hydroxychloroquine tablets to the United States, an Indian source with direct knowledge of the exports said, although US regulators warned that the antimalarial drug may have harmful side effects in the treatment of Covid- 19.
The trade, India’s largest export of the drug to any country, follows a request by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for New Delhi to release hydroxychloroquine supplies as a possible treatment for respiratory disease.
“It amounts to 50 million tablets … Commercial companies are chasing. It is ongoing,” said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the talks with the United States.
Coronavirus block: latest updates
The United States Food and Drug Administration, the European Union drug regulator and the Canadian health department have warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine, citing side effects such as abnormal heart rhythms and a dangerously fast heart rate.
However, health warnings have done little to discourage imports of the drug to the United States, where some doctors continue to prescribe it for the treatment of Covid-19.
“There is a great demand for hydroxychloroquine in the international market, including the United States,” Viranchi Shah, senior vice president of the Indian Association of Drug Manufacturers (IDMA), told Reuters.
This month, India said it would allow some hydroxychloroquine exports after Trump touted it as a “game changer” and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send supplies.
In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, 68 new licenses have been issued to drug makers to make hydroxychloroquine formulations, H.G. Koshia, Commissioner of the Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA).
“Most of these licenses are for exports,” he said.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, IPCA Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare are among the top hydroxychloroquine suppliers in India.
Cadila Healthcare recently said it was increasing production tenfold to 30 metric tons per month.
Sales of the decades-long treatment shot up overnight after Trump’s defense of the drug, raising questions about whether political pressure had overturned scientific judgment in the crisis.
Like the number of deaths from coronavirus in the US. USA Exceeding 60,000 on Wednesday, the highest in the world, doctors in the United States are desperate for anything that can alter the course of the disease, which attacks the lungs and can shut down other organs in severe cases.
“The pharmaceutical companies in Gujarat continue to produce and export hydroxychloroquine in large quantities,” said Shah of IDMA.
The Foreign Ministry said that India continued to supply hydroxychloroquine and other essential medicines produced in India to other countries. These supplies were carried out at both a humanitarian and commercial level.
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The trade, India’s largest export of the drug to any country, follows a request by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for New Delhi to release hydroxychloroquine supplies as a possible treatment for respiratory disease.
“It amounts to 50 million tablets … Commercial companies are chasing. It is ongoing,” said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the talks with the United States.
Coronavirus block: latest updates
The United States Food and Drug Administration, the European Union drug regulator and the Canadian health department have warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine, citing side effects such as abnormal heart rhythms and a dangerously fast heart rate.
However, health warnings have done little to discourage imports of the drug to the United States, where some doctors continue to prescribe it for the treatment of Covid-19.
“There is a great demand for hydroxychloroquine in the international market, including the United States,” Viranchi Shah, senior vice president of the Indian Association of Drug Manufacturers (IDMA), told Reuters.
This month, India said it would allow some hydroxychloroquine exports after Trump touted it as a “game changer” and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send supplies.
In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, 68 new licenses have been issued to drug makers to make hydroxychloroquine formulations, H.G. Koshia, Commissioner of the Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA).
“Most of these licenses are for exports,” he said.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, IPCA Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare are among the top hydroxychloroquine suppliers in India.
Cadila Healthcare recently said it was increasing production tenfold to 30 metric tons per month.
Sales of the decades-long treatment shot up overnight after Trump’s defense of the drug, raising questions about whether political pressure had overturned scientific judgment in the crisis.
Like the number of deaths from coronavirus in the US. USA Exceeding 60,000 on Wednesday, the highest in the world, doctors in the United States are desperate for anything that can alter the course of the disease, which attacks the lungs and can shut down other organs in severe cases.
“The pharmaceutical companies in Gujarat continue to produce and export hydroxychloroquine in large quantities,” said Shah of IDMA.
The Foreign Ministry said that India continued to supply hydroxychloroquine and other essential medicines produced in India to other countries. These supplies were carried out at both a humanitarian and commercial level.
