Laboratorios Rubió, a Spanish pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets dolquinemedicine based on hydroxychloroquinewhich is being used in the treatment of Covid-19has announced that it has the capacity to triple its production to respond to the needs of the .
The laboratory has reported in a statement that it has been available to the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Aemps) to be able to supply the drug based on its current production capacities.
This agency reports on its website that “the efficacy of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine is being evaluated in a good number of clinical trials whose results have not yet been published.
“It is therefore considered that the level of evidence is still low and based on preclinical data and safety in other indications,” says the agency.
Despite this, he acknowledges that “its use has generated expectations so that different authorities (Italy, France, China or Spain) have included chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine as one of the alternatives of treatment in patients with Covid-19 infection”.
Health controls the stock
The Aemps indicates that given the “limited stock” of these drugs and the growing demand in many different situations related to Covid-19, it is necessary control stocks and directs incumbents not to put any more hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine “on the channel until further notice”.
The laboratory claims to have enough product to ensure supply to chronically ill patients (people suffering from acute or chronic rheumatoid arthritis and lupus) for which the product is indicated.
Likewise, it ensures that it has the capacity to triple production “in response to the needs derived from the prophylactic use of Dolquine in coronavirus infections and in infected patients in combination with other treatments.”
The pharmacist participates in several national and international clinical trialsincluding the one being carried out at the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital (Badalona) led by Dr. Oriol Mitja.
It will also participate in a European project within the H2020 IMI Coronavirus call, which is currently in the preparation phase.
This is a European consortium that includes the centers in Spain, Italy and France and which will be led by the Foundation to Fight AIDS, the statement said.