Did P C Ray discover hydroxychloroquine?
Mangaluru: While Acharya P C Ray is one of the greats of manufacturing chemistry in India and founded the Bengal Chemicals, there have been forwards of the whatsapp university crediting him with the discovery and manufacture of hydroxy chloroquine. If he had done that it would have been really astonishing because the drug was first prepared in 1945 and he had passed away in 1944! While we should certainly acknowledge the greats of our nation it is not necessary to ascribe to them very odd things which they have not done.
But why this confusion? It is mainly because of the lack of knowledge of chemistry and fundamentals of science of the graduates of the social apps universities. The compound he was associated with is Clioquinol (iodochlorhydroxyquin) is an antifungal drug and antiprotozoal drug. It is neurotoxic in large doses. It is a member of a family of drugs called hydroxyquinolines which inhibit certain enzymes related to DNA replication. The drugs have been found to have activity against both viral and protozoal infections. Clioquinol (iodochlorhydroxyquin) is an antifungal drug and antiprotozoal drug. It is neurotoxic in large doses. It is a member of a family of drugs called hydroxyquinolines which inhibit certain enzymes related to DNA replication. The drugs have been found to have activity against both viral and protozoal infections. Later on it was also used as an intestinal antiseptic which caused SMON and hence its oral use was banned.
Hydroxychloroquine is a less toxic derivative of chloroquine and was discovered in 1945 and was a part of the efforts to lessen the toxic effects of chloroquine . It was approved for use in US in 1955 and since has been used for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases including arthritis, SLE etc. Of course these are in addition to its main use as a prophylactic for malaria which is because of its half life of around three weeks. However all know the reasons for its hitting the headlines now because of its alleged effectiveness in covid 19 treatment and prophylaxis!
Again while P C Ray founded company is credited with being the largest manufacturer of hyroxychloroquine it is far from the truth. It is the largest manufacturer of clioquinol which is not a very widely used compound now and not many are interested in its manufacture. However the truth is that India manufactures 70% of the worlds supply of hydroxy chloroquine and the leading manufacturers are IPCA, Zydus Cadila and Wallace Pharmaceuticals!
Author : Prof Narendra Nayak, President, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations
While we Indians debate all this, Chinese will manufacture and before we know they will flood the market for 1/10 of the cost of Indian manufacture. Sooner than later that would happen. India better step up now and supply this medicine. I have seen a news item where the HydroxyChloroquine facility is 90% idle and its MD was saying they can quickly step up…
I am not involved in manufacture of any drug intermediates to merit the comment that while we Indians are debating etc. I was commenting about a forward of the whatsapp university as a science communicator and rationalist I thought that the truth should be known.
Learn to sell it for a cheaper price and live within your means, otherwise, you will become the Taxi of the Uber business
deleted ! as per Siva About Dr P C Roy, plenty of info available.
Indian social media is so full of falsehood that nowadays everything appearing on it seems suspicious. In their zeal to praise and promote some selected individuals/parties and certain ideologies, vested interests are discrediting the whole Indian social media.
Beginning in 1862 in Darjeeling, cinchona plantations flourished over the next several decades in the verdant hills as Malaria sent chill down the spine of people in vast swathes of the country. And it still does. In 2016, over half of India’s population (698 million) was at risk of contracting malaria, according to the World Malaria Report. The planters, however, started facing a crisis of sorts after introduction of synthetic-chemical production of quinine.
“We are hopeful that due to increase in demand for anti-malaria drugs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, cinchona plantation in Darjeeling will grow. We are hoping for good business after years of disappointment,” Samuel Rai, director of Cinchona Plantations, West Bengal, told PTI.
India, which produces almost 70 per cent of the drug, relented and said it will be supplying the medicine to the neighbouring countries and also those that are badly affected by the pandemic. America tops the list of the countries ravaged by COVID-19 with more than 14,000 deaths reported so far. It has also begun clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of adults hospitalized with coronavirus disease, according to the National Institutes of Health, which functions under the US Department of Health and Human Services. According to Rai, hydroxychloroquine is a synthetic molecule as it is derived from chloroquine, which is chemically processed quinine. Quinine derived from cinchona barks is natural, he said. Asked why he is bullish on doing good business, Rai said, “The surge in demand for anti-malaria medicines will boost natural production of quinine from cinchona barks.” Quinine sulphate, produced from dry barks of cinchona, is actually the quinine drug needed to treat malaria patients. “Since the demand for anti-malaria drugs has increased, we have received queries from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for purchase of dry cinchona barks. We are hopeful that naturally derived quinine could be useful (in the treatment of COVID-19),” he said. Cinchona plantations are exclusive to Darjeeling and Kalimpong in the country, Rai said. According to him, production of quinine has stopped in West Bengal since the closure of factories in 2001 as they failed to comply with good manufacturing practices (GMP) norms. “We are hopeful that it will recommence very soon,” he said. Kolkata-headquartered PSU company Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals managing director P M Chandraiah said it has a stock of maximum 10 lakh tablets of chloroquine phosphate (250 mg) which is used to treat the vector-borne disease. BPCL will not be able to supply more such drug due to shortage of key component and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), he said.
” while P C Ray founded company is credited with being the largest manufacturer of hyroxychloroquine it is far from the truth is wrong statement Sir”
I wonder where the confusion is because according to the company itself is quoted that they do not manufacture it but CAN if asked!
Read this https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/covid-19-psu-with-chloroquine-capacity-idles-much-of-it/article31293828 that too it manufactures CHLOROQUINE at present and not HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE which it says can be made by a modification of the process. I do not what is the need to confuse quinine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinine) with chloroquine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroquine) and hydroxychloroquine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine). THE STATEMENT THAT BENGAL CHEMICALS DOES NOT PRODUCE EVEN A GRAM OF THE HYROXYCHLOROQUINE AT THE TIME OF MY WRITING THE ABOVE IS THE TRUTH.
THE STATEMENT OF ITS MANAGING DIRECTOR QUOTED ABOVE STANDS FOR IT PLEASE READ THAT AGAIN-“Kolkata-headquartered PSU company Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals managing director P M Chandraiah said it has a stock of maximum 10 lakh tablets of chloroquine phosphate (250 mg) which is used to treat the vector-borne disease. BPCL will not be able to supply more such drug due to shortage of key component and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), he said.”
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are not the same compound. Confusing between those and bringing in quinine which is a totally different compound made from cinchona bark just because they all have a common role of treatment of malaria reflects the lack of knowledge of the basic fundamentals.
There was no confusion by the education of WhatsApp University, Whatever the news, we never claimed Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy invented CHLOROQUINE SULPHATE, but he has done a great job for manufacturing the HCQ through Bengali Chemical, is it not great contribution, so he deserves the posthumous Noble and we already claimed to the Norway and Swidish Nobel committee.
Great that he did that after passing away in 1944 a year before the drug was discovered and five years before the process was patented and eleven years before it was permitted for use by FDA in 1955! We have heard of ghosts of Nehru and Gandhi doing a lot of negative work to sabotage the present regime but this is the first time that we hear the spirit of a rationalist-scientist doing it, that too for a change- positive work!
Read this about him quoted from:https://www.famousscientists.org/prafulla-chandra-ray/
“Prafulla Ray wanted to use the marvels of science for lifting up the masses. He was a very passionate and devoted social worker and he participated eagerly and actively in helping famine and flood struck people in Bengal during the early 1920s. He promoted the khadi material and also established many other industries such as the Bengal Enamel Works, National Tannery Works and the Calcutta Pottery Works. He was a true rationalist and he was completely again the caste system and other irrational social systems. He persistently carried on this work of social reformation till he passed away.”
I wanted to clarify but let it be. All the facts stated herein are true and I concur.
One is not surprised by the proliferation of false histories in the land where people fling cow dung at each other in the cow dung festival.
The Washington Post says that Hydrochloroquine was discovered in the year 1934 for World War II. But you say it’s discovered in 1945. Can you please clarify?
Here is the link : https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/06/faq-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus/
This is from the report which has been quoted above:
“What are chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine?
Bayer invented the medicine chloroquine in 1934, and it has been used for decades to treat malaria throughout the world. Hydroxychloroquine was invented during World War II to provide an alternative with fewer side effects.”
CHLOROQUINE was invented in 1934.
Its derivative HYROXYCHLOROQUINE was invented during world war 2 which was certainly not in 1934!
A patent for its manufacturing was in 1950!
Hydroxychloroquine is a drug that was used originally to treat malaria, especially in patients who could not tolerate the similar compound chloroquine. It also has been used to combat autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematosus.
This is from https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/h/Hydroxychloroquine.html?
In 1950, chemists Alexander R. Surrey and Henry F. Hammer at the Sterling–Winthrop Research Institute (Rensselaer, NY) published a synthesis of hydroxychloroquine. The parent company, Sterling Drug, obtained a US patent on the compound and its method of preparation the same year.
Please remember that choloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are two different compounds!
This western world itself it like that. they copy or steal the basic theory from others and with little modification showcase things that they have invented for the world. Still, they could not invent a medicine for Dengue and for which our Indian ayurvedic pandits could find a remedy from papaya plant which was originated by UK to India…!! The worst part is that our Indians are such idiots they never encourage or entertain any of our knowledge base and run behind the foreign *** ***es….!!
Why do you struggle with the ignorant?
Can you provide any journal /papers /authenticated links for this?
look up Wikipedia more than enough. Also refer to links given in my replies. These things are not rocket science. Just common info.