Coronavirus, Chloroquine, and “Off‐​label” Use

Jeffrey A. SingerAt a Coronavirus Task Force briefing last week, President Trumpincorrectly told the press that the antimalarial drug chloroquine had already gone through the Food and Drug Administration ’s approval process for the treatment of COVID-19 infection:“They’ve gone through the approval process, it’s been approved and they did it, they took it down from many, many months to immediate.” He was later corrected by the FDA Commissioner, who said the approval process had not and will not be completed until controlled clinical trials have convin ced the agency.Many people might therefore conclude that doctors are not legally permitted to prescribe chloroquine, or its analog hydroxychloroquine, to treat COVID-19 infections. In fact, doctors around the globe, including the U.S., are using these and other drugs to treat their patients, and reporting on their findings in the peer ‐​reviewed medical literature. French medical researchers reported on the chloroquine ’s potential based upon their experience with a small group of patients in the March issue of theInternational Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.Chinese medical researchersreported similar encouraging results in early February. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle areusing chloroquine to treat their COVID-19 patients, with one of its research associates calling the results thus far “very promising.” And a report in today ’sWall Street Journal by a&...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 23, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs