The hydroxychloroquine drug used in treating malaria and more recently the coronavirus will be available in the Egyptian market by September, announced the Presidential Advisor for Health and Prevention Mohamed Awad Tag Eddin.

Eddin, in a Saturday phone call to the “Hadat al-Muwatten” TV show, explained that the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients began after unaudited statistical research on the drug was published by a British magazine.

The drug showed promising results on 15,000 patients, he said.

Pharmaceutical reports by the Health Ministry revealed that Medical Union Pharmaceuticals, an Egyptian company affiliated with the ACDIMA group, has begun producing chloroquine phosphate for use in the treatment of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

Medical Union Pharmaceuticals chairperson Awad Gabr said that by May the company will produce roughly 200,000 doses of chloroquine phosphate — a drug commonly used to treat Malaria — and will produce additional doses as needed.

He added that chloroquine phosphate was the drug closest to being officially approved for the treatment of coronavirus.

The FDA has approved the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients in emergency cases, he said.

The US Department of Health announced in a statement in late March that chloroquine and hydroxychlorine drugs could be prescribed to adolescents and adults with COVID-19 as an appropriate treatment when clinical treatment is not available or not feasible.

Egypt’s therapy trial for injecting coronavirus patients with plasma taken from recovered cases has been a success, announced Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed on Friday.

The trial was applied to several critical cases in hospitals belonging under the Health Ministry, she added.

It showed promising initial results via a good recovery rate for patients, reducing the need for ventilators while increasing rates of recovery and hospital discharge.

The experiment began after the US Food and Drug Administration announced the possibility of using plasma from recovering patients to treat critical cases, as this plasma contains antibodies effective in battling the virus.