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Coronavirus: In Darjeeling, plantation with hydroxychloroquine potential joints fight
Covid-19: With demand for hydroxychloroquine rising across the world, the West Bengal government is exploring how fast it can start producing the anti-malarial drug.
Tucked away in the Darjeeling hills of north Bengal, India’s only cinchona plantation is preparing to join the big fight against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The bark of the cinchona is a source of quinine, used in anti-malarial medication that has held out hope of treating people infected by the virus.
US President Donald Trump has been an enthusiastic advocate of the use of anti-malarial medicine like hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, touting it as a potential game changer in the battle against the pandemic. Trump profusely thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week for removing restrictions on the export of hydroxychloroquine and clearing a consignment ordered by the US.
With demand for hydroxychloroquine rising across the world, the West Bengal government is exploring how fast it can start producing the anti-malarial drug. As a result, workers in the state-owned, loss making cinchona plantation have got their hopes up.
“The state has asked the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to submit a report on how soon we can revive the production of quinine and hydroxychloroquine in north Bengal,” said Rajiva Sinha, chief secretary of the West Bengal government.
The Kolkata-based Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited, the only public sector unit that manufactures the anti-malarial drug in India, has also applied for a licence from the Drugs Controller General of India to produce hydroxychloroquine
“At present, we manufacture chloroquine phosphate. We’ve applied to the Drugs Controller General of India to obtain a licence to manufacture hydroxychloroquine. We’ve got the necessary infrastructure to manufacture up to 1 million hydroxychloroquine tablets daily,” said PM Chandraiah, managing director, Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited.
The company, founded by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, considered to be the father of Indian chemistry, had started hydroxychloroquine production but stopped decades ago.
“We can supply the cinchona to the factories in north Bengal. They could also be supplied to Bengal Chemicals. There were a few factories which used to make quinine in north Bengal. They have closed down. The CII will submit a list of machinery needed to revive the factories,” said Sinha
Set up by the British in 1892, the cinchona plantation sprawls over 6,900 acres in the Darjeeling hills. For more than a hundred years, extracts from the bark of these trees were used to produce quinine, the only effective drug for malaria. Chloroquine, which was discovered in 1934, is a synthetic variant of quinine.
“After synthetic drugs captured the market, the plantation started losing its relevance. These days, the sick unit sells cinchona barks to a handful of medicine manufacturers both in the country and aboard. The plantation has 500 metric tons of cinchona bark in the stock waiting to be auctioned,” said Samuel Rai, director of cinchona plantation.
With West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee taking a personal interest in how to boost hydroxychloroquine production in the state, it has come as a ray of hope for the 5,000-odd plantation workers. The plantation has already received bulk orders from two clients, including a pharmaceutical company based in Madhya Pradesh.
“We’re roping in experts from North Bengal University and Sikkim. CII experts will also be a part of the team. We’ll submit a report to the Bengal government on how soon the factories can be reopened and what machinery would be needed,” said Sanjit Saha, chairman of CII’s north Bengal zonal council.
