While the entire world is struggling to create a vaccine for deadly coronavirus, demand for Hydroxychloroquine across the globe has surged. As Hydroxychloroquine has come up as a potential drug for the cure of coronavirus, the need for it has observed a jump globally. India, being one of the biggest manufacturers of Hydroxychloroquine, agreed to export the drug to the US and Brazil and many other nations requested for it.
What is Hydroxychloroquine?
Hydroxychloroquine is a prescription-based drug that is majorly used in the treatment of malaria. Available in the form of tablets, the drug mainly helps in the treatment of malaria patients, but many a time, it reportedly causes some severe side-effects. A study in China has revealed that COVID-19 patients who go through the Chloroquine treatment had the clinical and virologic benefit as compared to others. The Chloroquine was used as an anti-viral for the cure for patients suffering from COVID-19.
Currently, this Chloroquine or HCQS are highly suggested for the COVID-19 diseased patients. Chloroquine is dissimilar from Hydroxychloroquine, which is an antimalarial drug in India as a national taskforce for coronavirus recommended HCQS for preventive treatment. But it recommended for an asymptomatic healthcare worker. If the person is affected by COVID-19, they must consult a doctor to purchase this. Currently, HCQS cannot be used as an exclusive anti-Corona virus medicine because it is still under investigation.
Antimalarial effect of Hydroxychloroquine
It is an ancient and effective antimalarial drug also used in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Nowadays, anything related to Covid-19 is trending, and according to some doctors in the USA, Hydroxychloroquine showed some benefit in Covid 19 patients. So, now the USA and nearly 50 countries want Hydroxychloroquine drugs as India is the largest supplier globally. These are some sequences of events because of which Hydroxychloroquine is trending on social media and news channels all over the world. Hydroxychloroquine is quite similar to Chloroquine, which is the best known antimalarial drug. It is trending because India has banned its export to other countries, especially the USA.
The drug, which can also treat autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid and lupus, has also attracted courtesy as a potential anti-viral agent. Since a virus also causes Covid-19, people are assuming that this drug can be a cure to this disease. Although nothing has been testified, the use has been severely restricted ever since it was named as a possible treatment for the coronavirus. These are the reasons why Hydroxychloroquine has come into focus. HCQ has been used by doctors as a therapeutic medicine while treating some novel coronavirus patients even though it hasn’t proved to be a decisive medicine against Covid-19 yet.
How Hydroxychloroquine manufactured
Hydroxychloroquine is not a secret or exclusive formula. A country such as the United States will be able to produce or import from India as large amounts of the medicine in due time anyway. The US does not face a shortage of this drug, but considering the rising number of cases in the country, it may need more of the medicine shortly. India is one of the major global suppliers of HCQ and already has pending orders from countries like the US. A hoarding of HCQ at this moment, when positive novel coronavirus cases here are much lower than other countries, may result in late access to ample supplies of the drug.
