Trump says US failed to grasp benefits of HCQ as other countries show effective results

While the US food and drug regulatory body withdrew the emergency use authorisation of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, President Donald Trump reportedly said that other countries had provided great reports on the effectiveness of malaria drug. The US President has repeatedly praised the use of the drug’s usefulness for staving off the disease, however, on June 15 the FDA concluded the Durg may not be effective to cure the virus infections. 

After the FDA revoked the emergency use authorisation of HCQ, Trump, while speaking to the White House reporter, also complained that the US agencies have failed to grasp its benefit. Meanwhile, the FDA reportedly said that its decision was based on ‘new information’, including clinical trial data results, that have led it to conclude that HCQ may not be effective to treat the deadly virus. According to an international media report, the FDA also concluded that HCQ’s potential benefits for such use do not outweigh its known and potential risks. 

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HCQ unlikely to produce antiviral effect 

Trump has particularly been a strong supporter of hydroxychloroquine. Earlier, he had also described the drug as a ‘game-changer’. Back in March, the FDA had also issued emergency use authorisation (EUA) for use of oral formulations of HCQ, however, the administration now believes that the suggested dosing regimens for the drug are unlikely to produce an antiviral effect. 

FDA chief scientist Denise Hinton, in a letter dated June 15 to Gary Disbrow of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), said, “Earlier observations of decreased viral shedding with HCQ or CQ treatment have not been consistently replicated and recent data from a randomised controlled trial assessing the probability of negative conversion showed no difference between HCQ and standard of care alone”. 

While the new NIH guidelines now recommend against the use of HCQ outside of a clinal trial, the US President still is touting for the drug. Earlier, Trump also defended the drug and said that HCQ was ‘line of defence’ against coronavirus. Back in May Trump had also disclosed that he was taking the drug daily to ward off the virus. He had also said that the drug “doesn’t harm you” and has received tremendous reviews from doctors all over the world. 

(Inputs: PTI) 

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