Teva ships India’s first consignment of hydroxychloroquine to the US

After the initial uncertainty over export of hydroxychloroquine from India, a drug used in the fight against Covid-19, the first consignment of the medicine has reached the United States.

Israeli drugmaker Teva has exported the drug from its Goa plant (under Watson Pharma, a company it had acquired). “The company has exported 2.4 million tablets, and nine metric tonnes of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) used to make the tablet,” Udaya Bhaskar, Director-General, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), told BusinessLine. Bhaskar said he had spoken to company officials in Goa, who confirmed that it had reached the US.

The development comes a week after the Centre’s flip-flop on exporting the drug. Drug companies Ipca, Zydus Cadila and Laurus Labs are also said to be ready to export.
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Hydroxychloroquine, used in treating certain types of malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, made international headlines after US President Trump called it a “game changer” and asked India to released stocks of the drug it had ordered. India had last week ordered a complete stop on export of the drug, with no exceptions. The situation has since turned around, with the Centre opening the gates for a dozen-odd APIs, besides permitting limited export of hydroxichloroquine and paracetamol.

The international and domestic surge in demand for hydroxychloroquine comes even as scientific voices call for its restrained use in healthcare workers handling Covid-19 patients or the family of the patient. Doctors have been raising concerns on the drug’s impact on the heart and the eyes. This, even as reports emerge of patients with lupus finding it difficult to get the drug from their chemist, something the government denies.

The value of the consignment is approx USD 2 million.