Nearly half of the state governments in the United States have begun stockpiling supplies of the anti-malaria drug that President Trump has promoted as one of the most effective cures for the coronavirus, according to ABC News.
Currently, 22 states and Washington D.C. have managed to secure shipments of hydroxychloroquine, amounting to a nationwide total of nearly 30 million doses. Many of the states received their shipments for free from either the federal government or as donations from various drug companies, including the New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceutical and the Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical. A massive donation of 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine was sent to the U.S. by the Swiss company Novartis in March.
Dr. Kenneth Klein, a medical consultant based near Seattle, Washington who has spent three decades working for various drug companies, admitted that, had it not been for Trump promoting the drug early on, “I doubt if the states would have even been aware of it.”
Hydroxychloroquine, which has previously been used to treat malaria, has proven to be the most effective treatment against the coronavirus thus far. There have been numerous anecdotal examples of the drug curing the virus within the United States, as well as multiple clinical studies both in the United States and abroad, including France, confirming the drug’s effectiveness.