Covid-19 impact: The share of hydroxychloroquine in minuscule pharmaceutical exports
The Modi administration had placed an export ban on the drug after the coronavirus outbreak struck India.
India, the world's largest hydroxychloroquine manufacturer (HCQ), exported $51 million of the drug during FY19. This was a small fraction of the $19-billion pharmaceutical exports in the world.
Nevertheless, exports had fallen to $36 million until February in FY20. With US President Donald Trump campaigning for HCQ, global demand for the inexpensive drug has all of a sudden surged. Countries like Brazil and India's SAARC neighbors tried Indian opioid.
Ipca Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare have demanded 100 million tablets from the Centre itself. Manufacturers believe that the Indian market has enough stock, and that the surplus could be exported. They're gearing up to deliver the same within this month to the government. However, China does not make HCQ and India, they say, is the leading global supplier.
The government has agreed to lift a partial ban on hydroxychloroquine after US President Donald Trump asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to manufacture the medication to help America counter the deadly Covid-19 disease.
President Trump had called Prime Minister Modi, asking him to supply the anti-malaria medication hydroxychloroquine used to treat Covid-19 patients and as a prophylaxis by the frontline health care staff deployed to counter the coronavirus pandemic. After the coronavirus epidemic struck India the Modi government had placed a ban on drug exports.
The US currently has the largest number of the world's novel coronavirus infections, with more than 367,000 infection infections and more than 10,800 deaths. In relative terminology, India has managed to control the pandemic with 136 deaths and more than 4,700 infections.
On 6 April 2020, the administration of Donald Trump provided India with $2.9 million in assistance to help fight the latest coronavirus disease.
HCQ and chloroquine phosphate fall in the same drug class. Chloroquine is an antimalarial used for malaria prevention and treatment. In comparison, HCQ is used to treat autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and diabetes as a third-line therapy.
Some health researchers have used HCQ as a possible treatment for Covid-19 alongside a combination of a specific antibiotic azithromycin. India has advised the use of HCQ for healthcare staff and high-risk people in a government advisory to avoid contracting the infection.
The medication is also given to patients with Covid-19. However, experts have cautioned against widespread use of the medication before its effectiveness is proved beyond doubt, through clinical trials.
In a release on March 19, the US FDA said it worked closely with other government agencies and academic centers investigating the use of chloroquine to decide whether it could be used for care.
HCQ sales have been seeing a increase back home. Data from AIOCD AWACS, a market research company, showed a 19% rise in HCQ revenues in February. This is due to many Indians stored the product that unexpectedly came to the fore, the price being hardly Rs 3 per tablet.
