Arab News

DUBAI: The UAE will import 5.5 million hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets from India as a possible treatment for coronavirus, the embassy in New Delhi tweeted.

The UAE’s embassy thanked the Indian government for facilitating the “first” shipment of the medicine. India is one of the biggest exporters of HCQ.

In March, leading French pharmaceutical company Sanofi said it could potentially treat 300,000 coronavirus patients with the anti-malarial drug

Plaquenil after what it described as “promising” test results.

Sanofi said it was ready to offer France millions of doses of Plaquenil, a spokesperson for the laboratory told AFP, adding that the group was ready to work with French health authorities “to confirm these results.”

The study was on 24 patients with coronavirus using Plaquenil, a hydroxychloroquine molecule, which has also been used for decades for the treatment of autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

Six days after the start of taking Plaquenil, the virus had disappeared in three-quarters of those treated, said Professor Didier Raoult, who is director of the Institute Hospitalo-Universitaire de Marseille.

The UAE has confirmed that 6,302 people have been infected with coronavirus, 37 of the patients died and 1,188 recovered.