TEVA - Teva Donating More Than 10 Million Doses of Hydroxychloroquine as Potential COVID-19 Treatment
Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TEVA) plans to donate 10 million tablets of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine sulfate as a potential treatment for COVID-19. That news follows a report from earlier this week that Bayer (OTC: BAYRY) plans to donate 3 million tablets of the related drug chloroquine, which is more potent but has more hazardous side effects.
Teva has 6 million tablets on hand, which it plans to ship through wholesalers to hospitals by March 31, with the remaining doses expected to be ready within a month.
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are best-known as treatments for malaria, which is caused by a parasite, not a virus. Hydroxychloroquine is also prescribed for autoimmune diseases. But recent studies reported on in the journal Nature have found both drugs inhibit the ability of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to replicate in the laboratory. How well the drug might do to help humans fight off the disease is still unknown, although initial reports have been positive.