The outbreak of the pandemic has disrupted almost everything, impacting assail ability to the lives of millions of people across the globe. With the rising number of COVID-19 patients across the globe, has increased the demand for Hydroxychloroquine drug. Hydroxychloroquine is a prescribed oral tablet drug. Hydroxychloroquine is a generic version and it is available as the brand names Plaquenil, Quineprox, among others. Hydroxychloroquine is used to prevent and treat malaria. Hydroxychloroquine interferes with the communication of cells in the immune system and kills parasites that harm the body. In April 2020, the US FDA approved hydroxychloroquine new drug application for the treatment of COVID-19 related shortage. Although, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), there is not sufficient evidence that hydroxychloroquine can cure COVID-19 cure, but it can be used to prevent the coronavirus.
India is the largest manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine. According to the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), India manufactures 70% of the hydroxychloroquine of the world’s supply. In March 2020, the Government of India banned the export of hydroxychloroquine and in April 2020, the Government of India withdrew the restriction on the export of hydroxychloroquine along with 11 other products and its formulation after the serious outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this pandemic moment, India would export hydroxychloroquine only based on domestic requirements. As per the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), India currently has over 40 metric tonnes of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of hydroxychloroquine of annual installed capacity and with this capacity, the Indian pharma company can make over 200 million hydroxychloroquine tablets of 200 mg.
The key manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine drugs in India are Zydus, IPCA, Zydus, Wallace Pharmaceuticals, and Cipla. Moreover, the central government and the state governments are giving license several pharma companies to manufacture hydroxychloroquine tablets. For instance, On April 10, 2020, the government of West Bengal’s directorate of drug control gave permission license to the Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPCL) to manufacture the hydroxychloroquine tablets IP 200 and 400 mg.
In the period from April-2019 to January-2020, India exported hydroxychloroquine API worth $1,220 million and in the same period exported formulation of hydroxychloroquine worth $5,500 million. In April 2020, during this COVID-19 in the first consignment, India exported hydroxychloroquine tablets to the US and Israel, India exported 3.5 million of hydroxychloroquine tablets to the US. India also to ship hydroxychloroquine tablets to the Spain, Bahrain, Brazil, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Germany, Maldives, Bangladesh, Seychelles, Mauritius, and the Dominican Republic. In the second consignment, Brazil, Canada and Germany would get 5 million tablets each of hydroxychloroquine and, Bangladesh would get 2 million, Bhutan 0.2 million, Nepal 0.1 million, Afganistan 0.5 million, Sri Lanka 1 million, and the Maldives would get 0.2 million of hydroxychloroquine tablets. Such factors are impacting the share of hydroxychloroquine in India’s pharma exports business.
