There are clinical trials, with published results from researchers in other countries. That is the reason people are pushing back on Fauci's comment which was seized upon and repeated by the anti-Trump press.
It is not the only one.
There are no large scale randomized clinical trials. there may never be because you can or withhold a likely effective drug from people who are ill. I hope to see some trials with multiple drugs against each other so we can eventually determine which regimen is most effective but the goood news is we have multiple drugs that appear to be useful
That doesn’t meet the criteria for FDA approval in the US.
If a doctor prescribes this they could loose their license, be subject to malpractice, and be unable to help others.
If a hospital allows it they become subject to the lawsuit, their pharmacy and DEA creds are subject to penalty.
Unless they repeal malpractice law, no one is going to do this unless the dead are literally piling up.
chloroquine is already in common use in malaria prophylaxis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9053622
yet we cannot get it prescribed if we suddenly come down with covid-19 symptoms? or worse, one of our loved ones with pre existing conditions or dispositions suddenly comes down with covid-19 symptoms?
apparently doctors can always prescribe chloroquine for their loved ones based on a (manufactured) scheduled trip to a swampy area.
this seems questionable at best and open to abuse at worst, encouraging shortages at the expense of people at or close to the front lines.