Free Republic

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the pace of vaccine development has surpassed anyone’s wildest expectations. Unfortunately, drug development for treatments has not kept the same pace. Indeed, there are still very few effective treatments for COVID-19. Now, a collaboration between four research institutes has identified the antimalarial drug amodiaquine as a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human lung cells and in living preclinical models. This breakthrough helped secure the inclusion of amodiaquine in a COVID-19 clinical trial that is currently underway in 13 different countries in Africa where this drug is inexpensive and widely available.The research is published in...

Doctors who prescribe an anti-malarial drug being touted as a potential COVID-19 treatment will face a $13,000 fine due to new prescription rules. The rules, brought into effect in Queensland on Tuesday, means that clinicians are banned from prescribing hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment. Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug now used to treat anti-immune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. There is no solid evidence that the drug is effective against COVID-19, but Federal Health Minister said that there has been “some promising research so far”. The new restrictions were brought in place after doctors began prescribing the drug...

As many as 4,000 seriously ill coronavirus patients in New York are being treated with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, state health officials say. President Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential life-saver, although there is no widespread scientific evidence to date showing it helps battle COVID-19. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month said health care providers in the state would be using the drug in combination with the antibiotic Zithromax, or azithromycin, for some last-ditch cases, based on potentially promising research. “Time is of the essence,’’ Albany University Public Health Dean David Holtgrave, who is on the state’s research team,...

Anti-Malarial Drug Mefloquine Associated With 87 Deaths and Hundreds of Psychotic Episodes in Past 15 Years Was Staff Sergeant Robert Bales Administered the Drug? (Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has uncovered documents from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detailing more than 2,000 episodes during the past 15 years in which people had serious adverse reactions caused by the anti-malaria drug, mefloquine hydrochloride, commonly known as Lariam®. Of 87 reported deaths associated with the drug, 39 were recorded as suicides and 12 were homicides. The...