Zurich - Novartis will donate
enough doses of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat several
million patients in the fight against the coronavirus if it
wins approval, the Swiss company said on Friday.
There are no vaccines or treatments approved for the
disease, but there is currently a 1 500-person trial, led by the
University of Minnesota, to see whether hydroxychloroquine can
prevent or reduce the severity of Covid-19. Two other trials are
studying blood pressure drug losartan as a possible treatment.
Novartis makes the malaria drug, which is also used to treat
lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, at its Sandoz unit in the United
States. It plans to donate 130 million doses of the drug and is
in talks with US Food and Drug Administration regulators over
expanding its use for coronavirus.
"Novartis is supporting ongoing clinical trial efforts, and
will evaluate needs for additional clinical trials," it said in
a statement.
Novartis has 50 million doses in stock, and hopes to produce
another 80 million by the end of May for donation. The donations
may be sufficient to treat several million patients, depending
on the dosing regimen, Novartis said.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP),
added hydroxychloroquine to its list of drugs in short supply
this week. Four out of eight manufacturers of the drug are in
short supply, it said.
Bayer AG said on Thursday it has donated three
million tablets of the malaria drug Resochin, which is similar
to hydroxychloroquine, to the U.S. government for potential use
against coronavirus.
Mylan NV also said on Thursday it was ramping up
production of the drug and expects to be in a position to begin
supplying it more broadly in mid-April. It said with the raw
materials on hand it can make 50 million tablets to potentially
treat more than 1.5 million patients.
Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd said on
Thursday it would donate more than six million doses of
hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets.