Novartis’ generic hydroxychloroquine may have little use in COVID-19, but the Swiss pharma still wants to contribute its low-cost drugs in some way in the current fight.
Novartis’ Sandoz unit will offer 15 generic and over-the-counter medicines at zero profit to developing countries during the pandemic, the company said Thursday.
The portfolio covers widely used antibiotics and anti-inflammatory therapies, as well as meds for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. Most notably, it includes dexamethasone, a corticosteroid that scientists in the U.K. recently found to be able to cut COVID-19 death rates in severely ill patients.
Author: Canan Schuman, PharmD/PhD
Canan Schumann is Chief Editor for Axxiem and for Axxiem's blog "BiotechOntheWeb". When not writing for Axxiem, Canan works as a Clinical Research Scientist II at the Research and Development Department at Molecular Testing Labs, developing endpoint assays for the detection of infectious disease and cancer. Canan currently resides in Portland, Oregon, where he received his Honors Bachelor of Science (HBS), Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD.), and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biopharmaceutics at Oregon State University.