On Mar. 20, 2020, Amneal Pharma announced that it was responding to the national COVID-19 health emergency by building on its existing supply of hydroxychloroquine sulfate. Amneal was ramping up production of hydroxychloroquine sulfate at several of its manufacturing sites and expected to produce approximately 20 million tablets between now and mid-April. Those tablets were made available nationwide through Amneal’s existing retail and wholesale customers, as well as through direct sales to larger institutions in need.

Hydroxychloroquine sulfate was first synthesized in 1946 and is in a class of medications historically used to treat and prevent malaria. Today, Amneal’s hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, childhood arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Hydroxychloroquine is not approved for the treatment of COVID-19; however, it has been identified as a possible treatment for COVID-19,¹ and the U.S. government has requested its immediate availability.

Amneal has already begun shipping product. As a socially responsible company, Amneal will work to ensure its available inventory allocation is widely and evenly distributed to benefit the most patients possible.