GPO ups production of five drugs needed to fight Covid-19
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has increased production of five drugs used treat Covid-19 to make sure that it will be sufficient for all patients.
The official at GPO said that excluding favipiravir, Thailand has five drugs that are used to treat Covid-19, totalling 39.6 million tablets: there are 1.8 million tablets of chloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria; 30.6 million tablets of the antiretroviral drug containing lopinavir and ritonavir; 1.9 million tablets of darunavir antiretroviral drug; 1.9 million tablets of ritonavir antiretroviral drug and 3.4 million tablets of Azithromycin, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections.
The official added that GPO had accelerated the purchase of two Covid-19 antiviral drugs -- favipiravir and hydroxychloroquine.
“We ordered favipiravir from Japan and China of which 187,000 tablets have been procured, while another 103,860 tablets will be delivered by April this year,” the official added.
“Meanwhile, we have already ordered 1.09 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine from domestic manufacturers.”
