At present, no drug has been proven to be safe and effective for treating COVID-19. There are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs specifically to treat patients with COVID-19. Although reports have appeared in the medical literature and the lay press claiming successful treatment of patients with COVID-19 with a variety of agents, definitive clinical trial data are needed to identify optimal treatments for this disease. Recommended clinical management of patients with COVID-19 includes infection prevention and control measures and supportive care, including supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilatory support when indicated. As in the management of any disease, treatment decisions ultimately reside with the patient and their health care provider.
Antivirals:
- There are insufficient clinical data to recommend either for or against using chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 (AIII).
- If chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine is used, clinicians should monitor the patient for adverse effects, especially prolonged QTc interval (AIII).
- There are insufficient clinical data to recommend either for or against using the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 (AIII).
- Remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19 is currently being investigated in clinical trials and is also available through expanded access and compassionate use mechanisms for certain patient populations.
- Except in the context of a clinical trial, the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel (the Panel) recommends against the use of the following drugs for the treatment of COVID-19:
- The combination of hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin (AIII) because of the potential for toxicities.
And here's the kicker from the NIH, seen on its Introduction page:
Finally, it is important to stress that the rated treatment recommendations in these Guidelines should not be considered mandates. The choice of what to do or not to do for an individual patient is ultimately decided by the patient together with their [sic] provider.
The people running the NIH aren't forbidding it. They aren't giving a go or no-go on the use of hydroxychloroquine. They are issuing a non-recommendation for its use in a particular combination based on potential problems already seen, and only outside clinical trials. And Politico of all places has done a far fairer story about what the NIH report said, although that publication goes a little strong on the "Trump touted" narrative. Politico wrote this:
There is not enough data for or against the vast majority of the medicines, the panel said in its "living document", while warning against using some outside of clinical trials. Those included the combination of hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly recommended, because of increased risk for heart problems, as well as Eli Lilly's Olumiant because it can worsen infections.
The panel also advised against a group of drugs known as interferons because of lack of efficacy data. And it warned that an HIV drug combination, lopinavir and ritonavir, did not show a clear benefit on mortality rates or length of hospital stays compared to standard of care in a randomized Chinese trial.
The experts added that there are conflicting results for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine and advised physicians to monitor their patients with use. The drugs have been on the market for decades to treat malaria and more recently lupus and arthritis. The president has often touted hydroxychloroquine in particular, but has not mentioned it on the press briefing stage in nearly a week.
It's telling that in nearly all the press reports, the link to the NIH statement goes only to the front page, not the actual recommendations page. That sounds like a media spin effort to get a gotcha dance going, without benefit of precise facts.
The media scum are clearly showing themselves more interested in making the POTUS look bad vs. the country finding a way out of the COVID mess. They are despicable human beings. For shame.
The NIH basically parroted Fauci.
We’re not giving our blessing without a series of double-blind studies. Nothing more.
Reporting on this is journalistic malpractice.
I want to see every one of these phony reporters swear they will never take the HCQ meds in the event they catch COVID-19.
They media has gone beyond a joke to criminality imho.
From what I read, deaths due to Zithromax concerns a rare condition known as long QT
Syndrome that produces cardiac arrhythmia.
So red tape and lack of screening should deny life saving benefits to tens of thousands of people?
And for what, so liberals can score a win against Trump? It’s absolutely disgusting and why liberals deserve to be loathed.
No surprise that when Hydroxychloroquine and a z-pack are only used that it would work.
Zinc is the real virus killer but can’t get into the lungs cells where the virus replicates without the Hydroxychloroquine. The azythromicin is only to help prevent any secondary infection.
So if your going to use only a two drug cocktail, do the Hydroxy and the Zinc. But all three are best.
I turned on MSNBC (briefly) this morning at 9:40, thinking to myself that it was a good bet they were talking about the NIH “study“ disparaging hydroxychloroquine. Yep! At 10 o’clock, I turned on CNN to see if they were hyperventilating about the same thing. Yep! They even showed a clip of Trump encouraging its use. But then, before going to bed late last night, Fox was doing the same thing, maybe with a little less passion. The NIH, just another part of the swamp, has done it’s deed. Fauci was missing from yesterday‘s press conference for a reason. I wonder if he’ll have anything to say on the subject, today, If he is, indeed, there.