An Indian American-owned pharma firm has pledged to donate 3.4 million Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate tablets to some of the key Covid-19 battleground states, including New York and Louisiana, joining the war against the dreaded coronavirus which by Tuesday had taken lives of more than 12,800 people in the US alone.
Owned by philanthropic billionaire Chirag and Chintu Patel, New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals, which is one of the largest US-based manufacturers, has also announced ramping up production of Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate at several of its manufacturing sites and expects to produce approximately 20 million tablets between now and mid-April.
Those tablets will be made available nationwide through Amneal’s existing retail and wholesale customers, as well as through direct sales to larger institutions in need, the company said.
Amneal has donated two million tablets of 200mg Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate to New York, and one million to Texas to be used in the treatment of Covid-19 patients. It is ready to provide more as needed. It is also donating and providing products directly to hospitals across the country, the company said.
Amneal has also announced donation of 400,000 Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate tablets to Louisiana.
All of us at Amneal are committed to supporting our communities in the global fight against Covid-19,” said Chirag and Chintu Patel, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Amneal.
“We are working with urgency to assist the hardest hit states and hospitals around the country to benefit as many patients as possible during this critical time,” they said in a joint statement, issued by the Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.
“It is important we all work together to help solve the Covid-19coronavirus crisis. We must come together as Louisianans and as Americans. This donation from Amneal demonstrates their strong effort to be a good corporate citizen in our nation,” Landry said.
Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate was first synthesized in 1946 and is in a class of medications historically used to treat and prevent malaria.