Ignoring warnings from health experts, President Donald Trump has been pushing Hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 claiming to have used it himself. Now, CNN is reporting that “the Food and Drug Administration has revoked its emergency use authorization for the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19.”
After reviewing the current research available on the drugs, the FDA determined that the drugs do not meet “the statutory criteria” for emergency use authorization because it’s unlikely to be effective in treating Covid-19 based on the latest scientific evidence, the agency noted on its website on Monday.
“FDA has concluded that, based on this new information and other information discussed in the attached memorandum, it is no longer reasonable to believe that oral formulations of HCQ and CQ may be effective in treating COVID-19, nor is it reasonable to believe that the known and potential benefits of these products outweigh their known and potential risks,” FDA chief scientist Denise Hinton wrote in a letter to Gary Disbrow of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) on Monday, according to CNN.
Trump has been a frequent cheerleader for a combination of the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin as a Covid-19 treatment. He promoted the drugs dozens of times, despite pleas from scientists to let studies decide if the treatment worked or not.
