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Netanyahu thanks Modi for delivering hydroxychloroquine to Israel
[IndiaToday] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for rushing a five-tonne cargo of medicines, including anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, seen as a possible cure for Covid-19.

"Thank you, my dear friend @narendramodi, Prime Minister of India, for sending Chloroquine to Israel. All the citizens of Israel thank you!", Netanyahu said in a tweet Thursday evening.

The Israeli's PM's thanked India two days after a plane carrying materials used to make medicines for treating coronavirus patients arrived in Israel from India on Tuesday.
These are APIs (Active Pharma Ingredients) for Israel to process compound doses from, and are way cheaper to import and then process than finished, packaged doses. The Indian companies spend more on storage, packaging and processing and the cost gets added to finished drugs.

Thank you, my dear friend @narendramodi, Prime Minister of India, for sending Chloroquine to Israel.

All the citizens of Israel thank you! pic.twitter.com/HdASKYzcK4
- PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 9, 2020


The five-tonne shipment included ingredients for drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, being seen worldwide as the best possible cure as of now for treating Covid-19 patients.

The dreaded coronavirus has infected nearly 10,000 people in Israel and claimed 86 lives. As many as 121 others are on ventilators in serious condition.

The Indian consignment reached Israel within days after Netanyahu spoke to Modi on April 3, requesting supply of hydroxychloroquine, with India being the world's largest producer and exporter of the drug.

India, however, had to restrict its export to meet domestic contingencies.

Netanyahu had been in touch with Modi ever since the coronavirus crisis erupted. He had made a special request on March 13 asking the Indian prime minister to approve and allow export of masks and pharmaceuticals to Israel.

"I also spoke to the prime minister of India, my friend Narendra Modi. We are dependent on supply lines from various countries. We are looking into it all the time," Netanyahu had then said addressing a press conference.
Delivery of larger volumes of APIs to the US too is now possible, thanks to the lifting of all curbs on Indian drug API exporters by the US FDA.

Posted by: Dron66046 2020-04-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=568350