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 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 U.S. 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.
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said during a news
conference on Friday he is optimistic about the malaria treatment's
use against COVID-19.
Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, did not take issue with Trump's optimism,
but said the drug's promise is based so far on anecdotal evidence in
France and that more data is needed.
"What I'm saying is that it might - it might - be effective. I'm not
saying that it isn't," Fauci said.
Fauci also said that while toxic reactions to the drugs are rare
based on decades of patient use and can be reversible in many cases,
that is not known for COVID-19.
"What we don't know is when you put it in the context of another
disease whether it's safe. Fundamentally, I think it probably is
going to be safe, but I like to prove things first," Fauci said.
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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 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 is ramping up production and expects 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 it would donate more than six million
doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets.
(Reporting by John Miller, additional reporting by Caroline Humer in New York;
Editing by Michael Shields, Elaine Hardcastle and Will Dunham)
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