FDA approves compassionate use of anti-malaria drug chloroquine for the treatment of coronavirus

We’ve been talking about chloroquine for at least a week now. The anti-malaria has been used in France and other Asian countries. A recent study conducted by Thomas R. Broker, (Stanford PhD), James M. Todaro (Columbia MD), and Gregory J. Rigano, Esq., in consultation with Stanford University School of Medicine, UAB School of Medicine, and National Academy of Sciences researchers, shows that over the counter anti-malaria pills Chloroquine may be highly effective at treating coronavirus COVID-19.

Chloroquine and its sister drug, hydroxychloroquine, have been used to treat malaria since Word War II. Now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the ‘compassionate use’ of chloroquine to treat coronavirus patients in the United States.

Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that allowing COVID-19 patients the “right to try” would provide the FDA with additional data on the effectiveness of the drugs against coronavirus, potentially speeding up its release to the public. Hahn said drugs like remdesivir are “going through the normal process,” but will be made available for “compassionate use,” allowing doctors to have emergency access to the drugs if requested.

The idea behind the compassionate use is not new. It is a longstanding FDA program that allows for a physician to use an investigational drug in a patient under a protocol that undergoes review by an institutional review board and the FDA itself, while in addition enabling the agency to collect data.

The announcement came during the daily Coronavirus Task Force press briefing. Below is a video of U.S. President Trump making the announcement.