The World Health Organization has now halted research on whether hydroxychloroquine could be an effective treatment for COVID-19, reports NBC News, after multiple studies showed the drug “has no impact on the coronavirus.”
But now that America’s Food and Drug Administration has revoked permission for using it to treat coronavirus patients, CNN reports that the U.S. government “is stuck with 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine.”
The government started stockpiling donated hydroxychloroquine in late March, after President Trump touted it as “very encouraging” and “very powerful” and a “game-changer.” But Monday, the FDA revoked its emergency use authorization to use the drug to treat Covid-19, saying there was “no reason to believe” the drug was effective against the virus, and that it increased the risk of side effects, including heart problems… [M]any infectious disease experts, including those who’ve studied the drug for coronavirus, say there was never any evidence that the drug worked for the virus.
And some of America’s states are now also stuck with millions of hydroxychloroquine pills which they’re no longer allowed to use to treat COVID-19, reports The Columbus Dispatch:
The state of Ohio purchased more than 2 million hydroxychloroquine pills for $602,629 on April 9, Melanie Amato, spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said via email. [And an additional 2 million were donated by an Ohio-based drugmaker…] The FDA change leaves the Ohio Department of Health with more than 4 million pills, which Amato said have a shelf life of about 18 to 24 months… [T]he state can give the drug only to facilities licensed to maintain dangerous prescription drugs…
Utah purchased $800,000 worth of the drug and Oklahoma spent $2 million on it…
A spokeswoman for Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Glenford Republican, called the state Health Department’s purchase of hydroxychloroquine “a waste of money.”
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot