The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency authorization Sunday for hydroxychloroquine, a drug already used to treat malaria and other ailments, which has shown anecdotal efficacy against coronavirus.
The use of the drug — often paired with azithromycin — has not yet been proven in clinical trials to be effective against the disease. However, given reported success in a growing number of small, non-randomized studies; as well as testimonials from doctors and patients about the use of the “off-label” drug regimen, doctors are said to be prescribing the treatment to patients who are severely ill. Anecdotally, many doctors are taking it prophylactically.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a statement on Sunday:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to BARDA to allow hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate products donated to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible.
Trump gives Smithsonian days to replace ‘strange modernist sculpture’ with Founding Father
Diesel Just Hit $5.90 a Gallon with Refineries Maxed Out: Winter Won’t Get Any Better
‘History Worth Teaching’: Trump Demands Smithsonian Replace Woke Modernist Nonsense Giant Statue of Washington
GOP women sound alarm as Lindsay Clancy backlash revives calls to repeal 19th Amendment: ‘Definitely a threat’
Georgia killer who murdered two suburban real estate agents faces execution after 23-year wait for justice
Burglar Armed with Submachine Gun Raids Missouri House: The Homeowner Sent Him Home in a Body Bag
Police Called to Kamala Harris’s Malibu Mansion After Unknown Woman ‘Illegally Entered’
With ‘Choosin’ Texas,’ we’re all choosin’ Ella Langley
Deep-pocketed donors flocked to the SPLC to heal America’s divisions. Did it pay off?
Penn State frat cocaine bust blows lid off wider stimulant scourge hitting college campuses — and beyond
Vulnerable House Republicans embrace Trump as GOP bets on defying midterm history
Trump faces major test over appointing US attorneys without Senate approval
Black conservative reveals how GOP can lock down minority voters without Trump on ballot
GOP rising star reveals how Republicans can lock down minority voters without Trump on ballot
Sweden’s right-wing government hoping nationalist-populist allies will hold back left-wing coalition
HHS also noted that it had “accepted 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate donated by Sandoz, the Novartis generics and biosimilars division, and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate donated by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, for possible use in treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or for use in clinical trials.”
Earlier, the French government had approved similar drugs to treat the virus.
Amid concerns that the sudden interest in hydroxychloroquine could cause shortages, HHS noted: “Use of the donated medications is expected to help ease supply pressures for the drug, and the FDA is also working with manufacturers of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to increase production to ensure these drugs also remain available for patients dependent on them for treatment of malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.”
Trump gives Smithsonian days to replace ‘strange modernist sculpture’ with Founding Father
Diesel Just Hit $5.90 a Gallon with Refineries Maxed Out: Winter Won’t Get Any Better
‘History Worth Teaching’: Trump Demands Smithsonian Replace Woke Modernist Nonsense Giant Statue of Washington
GOP women sound alarm as Lindsay Clancy backlash revives calls to repeal 19th Amendment: ‘Definitely a threat’
Georgia killer who murdered two suburban real estate agents faces execution after 23-year wait for justice
Burglar Armed with Submachine Gun Raids Missouri House: The Homeowner Sent Him Home in a Body Bag
Police Called to Kamala Harris’s Malibu Mansion After Unknown Woman ‘Illegally Entered’
With ‘Choosin’ Texas,’ we’re all choosin’ Ella Langley
Deep-pocketed donors flocked to the SPLC to heal America’s divisions. Did it pay off?
Penn State frat cocaine bust blows lid off wider stimulant scourge hitting college campuses — and beyond
Vulnerable House Republicans embrace Trump as GOP bets on defying midterm history
Trump faces major test over appointing US attorneys without Senate approval
Black conservative reveals how GOP can lock down minority voters without Trump on ballot
GOP rising star reveals how Republicans can lock down minority voters without Trump on ballot
Sweden’s right-wing government hoping nationalist-populist allies will hold back left-wing coalition
President Donald Trump has suggested that hydroxychloroquine could be effective, and has encouraged further study. His interest in the drug has prompted pushback from the media.
NBC News’ Peter Alexander accused the president last week of giving Americans “false hope,” and Politico’s Dan Diamond reported Sunday that the FDA decision came despite “scant evidence,” adding that “[c]areer scientists have been skeptical of the effort.”
Story cited here.
