First consignment of anti-malaria drug reaches US
WASHINGTON: A consignment of hydroxychloroquine from India arrived in the US days after New Delhi lifted a ban on export of the anti-malarial drug, touted by many as a possible cure for the coronavirus disease.
Earlier this week, India at the request of President Donald Trump, cleared the export of 3.58 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine to the United States.
WASHINGTON:A large consignment of an antimalarial medicine, which US President Donald Trump had promoted as a potential “game-changer” in the fight against the coronavirus, has arrived from India.
Crates of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were offloaded on Saturday from a cargo flight from India at the Newark international airport in New Jersey, which is also among the hardest-hit states in the country. Ordered by the US in March, the drugs were possibly headed for the federal stockpile for further distribution.
“Supporting our partners in the fight against #Covid19. Consignment of hydroxychloroquine from India arrived at Newark airport today,” Taranjit Sandhu, Indian ambassador to the US, tweeted with a picture of the packages being carted away at the airport.
India lifted restrictions on the export of Hydroxychloroquine and some other drugs earlier in the week at the request of President Trump in a phone call last Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thanking India for the “HCQ decision”, Trump has since said it “will not be forgotten”.
Trump has been advocating the use of Hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus disease despite no evidence that it works. He has argued that it has been used to treat malaria for decades and is proven to be safe and patients have nothing to lose by trying it. Medical experts have warned, however, of side effects that can be fatal.
Food and Drug Administration, the US drug regulator, first allowed it to be prescribed by physicians to severely ill patients under “compassionate use” guidance and then sanctioned a large-scale trial among the ailing in New York, the epicentre of the American outbreak. India is one of the world’s largest producers of Hydroxychloroquine but it had earlier ordered an export ban on it and some other crucial drugs.