FDA issues emergency authorization of anti-malaria drug for coronavirus care
By DAN DIAMOND
03/29/2020 08:03 PM EDT
The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by President Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence.
The agency allowed for the drugs to be “donated to the Strategic National Stockpile 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,” HHS said in a statement, announcing that Sandoz donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the stockpile and Bayer donated 1 million doses of chloroquine.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/29/fda-emergency-authorization-anti-malaria-drug-155095
More from Politico article:
The drug also has been touted as a therapy for coronavirus by an unusual assortment of investors, TV correspondents and even some advisers to the White House — including some advocates who overstated their claims and credentials — and been championed by guests on Fox News.
...Federal officials also have privately complained that Trump's focus on anti-malaria drugs has distracted from efforts to investigate more promising therapies.
Politico and the rest of the mainstream media are having a hard time admitting that President Trump was correct about this drug being a game changer the first time he mentioned it - what, 2 weeks ago?