Posted on 03/29/2020 9:06:53 PM PDT by snarkytart
(CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
The drugs — which are used to treat malaria and other conditions — have been called game changers by President Donald Trump.
But thus far, there is little scientific evidence that chloroquine, or its closely-related analogue hydroxychloroquine, are effective in treating Covid-19.
What happened? The authorization came in a letter dated Saturday, but the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acknowledged the FDA’s action in a Sunday news release. The FDA limited the scope of its authorization to drugs supplied from the Strategic National Stockpile. The HHS announced that two pharmaceutical companies — Bayer and a division of Novartis — had donated the drugs to the stockpile.
Do the drugs work? In its statement, HHS said:
“Anecdotal reports suggest that these drugs may offer some benefit in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. “The safety profile of these drugs has only been studied for FDA approved indications, not COVID-19.”
While there’s limited evidence on the efficacy of chloroquine, or hydroxychloroquine, the FDA said the drugs’ benefits outweighed their risk. In its letter, the FDA encouraged randomized clinical trials that could assess the effectiveness of the drugs. It also noted that the known and potential benefits outweigh the risks.
Who can the drugs be used to treat? The authorization is limited to patients who are currently hospitalized and weigh at least 50kg, or about 110 pounds. Under the emergency use authorization, health care providers must contact their local or state health department to access the drugs.
Doctors have known for 65 years what the side effects of this drug is and know it’s extremely safe compared to other things in the marketplace. It’s all bullshit.
Do a little research, the incidence rate of cardiomyopathy is almost infinitesimal in the short duration treatment for SARS-CoV-2 is required unless the patient had prior risk factors.
Despite the fact that the treatment protocol of hydroxychloroquine paired with azithromycin is demonstrating great success all over the world and in many, many hospitals in this country, the Democrats and their friends in the media have done everything they could to conceal or diminish any evidence that the treatment is saving lives.
Why don’t you ask yourselves why NBC, MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times and all the rest of the usual suspects aren’t contacting hospitals and interviewing the doctors on the front lines to see if the drug is actually working. Wouldn’t it be good to know if it was or wasn’t having success? Why do you think that none of the networks that shill for the Democrats on a daily basis are interviewing these doctors or administrators in these hospitals? I think you instinctively know the answer to that question.
CNN is beyond contemptible. they simply don’t give a s*** if thousands of Americans die as long as they can damage the president.
+1
Hydroxychloroquine isn’t totally effective by itself - it has to be combined with azithromycin or another antiviral to reduce the viral load to undetectable levels. It also is reportedly not all that effective for people in the later stages of COVID-19. On the other hand, HCQ combines with lower doses of remdesivir can work in later stage infections and some patients in the last stage have been saved by remdesivir by itself. Remdesivir was the first reported antiviral that worked at all on the thing, which is part of why the media fixed on it.
True
I'm heard some good result from other countries regarding later stage use.
One thing the US doesn't seem to address all the time is the need for extra zinc. Using a zinc ionophore doesn't do much good if the patient is zinc deficient - which many people are, especially males.
Remdesivir isn’t even on the market except as an investigational drug, it’s not even offered or approved for other use. Not sure that what you’re speculating was the case.
Mostly the reports of effectiveness of HCQ in later stage infections is when it’s combined with ritonavir or lopinavir, which are drugs intended for HIV sufferers, but have had great effect against non-HIV viruses and are listed for Hep C and HPV. They’re *serious* antivirals with almost-but-not-quite as nasty potential side effects as remdesivir, but are hit or miss against COVID-19 without HCQ.
Remdesivir does seem to work reasonably well by itself, but it’s kind of like inviting an entire Marine Expeditionary Unit over to remove an offending neighbor. Sure, the offending neighbor is gone, but the neighborhood is generally flattened and everything in a kilometer radius is damaged - and that’s assuming they didn’t fire their weapons. :P Also, all the beer is gone.
Doctors here in upstate NY have been prescribing it for weeks now.
Good to hear.
Speaking of the military:
www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/pentagon-strikes-deal-biotech-firm-make-coronavirus-drug%3famp
Yup, but they’re not profiteering off it. From the article: “Under the agreement between Gilead and U.S. Army, the drug will be provided to the Defense Department at no cost.”
The DoD can and does routinely use medication not cleared for civilian use.
Why do you say “there’s a nationwide shortage of these drugs”?
Didn’t you know that Israel’s leading drug producer, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said Thursday it will donate 6 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the United States?
6 million doses will only treat 500K people. If we want to treat every human in America, which is IIRC a 12 pill course of treatment, we will need at *least* 3,840,000,000 pills.
There *is* a nationwide shortage of these drugs.
We can ramp up production, once it is found as effective as it appears. We don’t want “3,840,000,000 pills” if it won’t do the job. Any why would we treat every American? You only treat those who are infected. A vaccine will immunize those from getting infected.
We don’t need to treat every damn American we have MANY that have recovered and have immunity already we have MANY that have no symptoms at all!!
We have tested 990,000 as of today!! We have 120,000 cases which is 1/10%!,,
“Israel’s Teva donating potential COVID-19 treatment to US hospitals
Teva Pharmaceuticals to donate 6 million hydroxychloroquine tablets through wholesalers to hospitals by March 31, and 10 million within a month.
The global Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is donating more than 6 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets to hospitals across the United States to meet the urgent demand for the medicine as an investigational target to treat COVID-19.
Hydroxychloroquine sulfate is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of malaria, lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.”
https://www.israel21c.org/israels-teva-donating-potential-covid-19-treatment-to-us-hospitals/
We have two Bayer manufacturing companies pumping out nothing but these pills right now, one in WV. and one in Berkeley Ca. there is not a shortage on these drugs NOW the antibiotic portion of the cocktail may be a different story since it seems all of our antibiotics come out of China!!!
I thought it was understood that the combination of Hydroxychloroquine (plaquenil) and Azithromycin was given once the person was tested positive for the infection. It is not a vaccine. It won't prevent a person from getting infected. Treating the entire population of people who are not infected would be a huge waste. And stupid.
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