Sanofi will supply hydroxychloroquine "to as many countries as possible", or about fifty countries, the French pharmaceutical laboratory announced on Friday April 10 in a press release. Hydroxychloroquine "is part of the drugs evaluated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of an international clinical trial aimed at finding a therapeutic solution in the fight against Covid-19", said the group.

The company claims to have received "an increasing number of requests from governments around the world" and to have increased its production capacity by 50%. She plans to quadruple it by the summer.

The laboratory also ensures that it will "secure the level of stock necessary to continue to deliver [hydroxychloroquine] to patients in the currently approved indications".

At the end of March, Sanofi said it was ready to offer the French authorities millions of doses of Plaquenil, which could potentially treat 300,000 patients. But in France, its use remains very limited.

Hydroxychloroquine still under debate

Indeed, the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, this controversial derivative of chloroquine, has not yet been proven. The current clinical evidence is "insufficient", warns the laboratory, which is also working on a vaccine against the new coronavirus.

Although the drug raises a lot of hope, "it should be stressed that the results of the studies in progress are not yet available and that these can be positive but also negative," insisted the group. "Sanofi will continue to donate the drug to governments and hospitals if the ongoing clinical studies are successful," he added.

The infectious disease specialist Didier Raoult presented Thursday to President Emmanuel Macron his latest study which confirms, according to him, the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as soon as the first symptoms of the coronavirus appear. Results of which a certain number of doctors and scientists question the scope.

With AFP

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