Novartis joins the accelerated COVID-19 (ACTIV) initiative

Novartis commits to donating up to 130million doses of Hydroxychloroquine to support the global COVID-19 pandemic response.

Hydroxychloroquine and a related drug Chloroquine are currently under evaluation in clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19.

Novartis COVID-19 Response Fund of  USD 20 million, helped to build drug discovery and development collaborations and essential medicines price stability.

Novartis encourages industry, governments, and international institutions to work together to ensure adequate global access to medications to treat COVID-19 patients.

Novartis Sandoz division currently only holds registration for hydroxychloroquine in the US and will pursue appropriate regulatory authorisations from the US FDA and the European Medicines Agency. Novartis will work with stakeholders including the World Health Organisation to determine the best distribution of the medicine to ensure broad access to patients most in need of this medicine globally.

The company also aims to ensure that patients currently depending on this medicine are not impacted by the donation.

Novartis intends to work closely with other manufacturers to scale up production of hydroxychloroquine as necessary to support global supply and encourages industry, governments, and international institutions to ensure adequate global supply of medications to treat COVID-19 patients.