Intas to donate key Covid-19 drug for global trial

MUMBAI: Ahmedabad-based Intas Pharma is collaborating on a World Health Organisation (WHO)-endorsed study into the prevention of Covid-19 infection using hydroxychloroquine, a drug that may have an effect in preventing and/or reducing symptoms of the virus.


The global COPCOV (chloroquine / hydroxychloroquine prevention of Covid-19 in the healthcare setting; a randomised, placebo-controlled prophylaxis) study involves 40,000 frontline healthcare workers, who are caring for Covid-19 and is expected to start shortly. Intas will donate up to two million tablets of hydroxychloroquine for the trial, along with two million tablets of matched placebo, says a company statement.

COPCOV will be led by scientists from the University of Oxford and funded by Wellcome Trust; the study pools the resources of international experts across multiple continents.

Binish Chudgar, vice chairman and MD, Intas Pharmaceuticals said: “I am extremely proud that Intas is leading the way and playing an important part in the current COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to providing scientific advice, our teams are working around the clock, in challenging times, to manufacture the required hydroxychloroquine and matching-placebo for this vital study”.

Dr William Schilling, co-lead investigator, research physician and infectious diseases/ microbiology registrar, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand explains the rapid initiation of this global trial: “We are in a race against time to find effective treatments and preventive measures as the Covid-19 pandemic grows. What we already know is that chloroquine has antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture, as it does for the related SARS-CoV.”

Says Professor Sir Nicholas White, Wellcome Trust Fellow and consultant in infectious diseases, University of Oxford: “The hypothesis for this study is that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine might both slow viral replication in exposed subjects, attenuating or preventing the infection. Given the extensive experience in clinical practice, established safety and tolerability profile, if it proves effective then it would be a readily deployable and affordable preventive measure for high risk individuals such as healthcare workers.”