The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally approved the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine alongside some other drugs for the treatment of coronavirus till a vaccine is developed.
The much talked about anti-malaria drug 2weeks ago as a ‘gift from God’ by Trump, will now be massively produced, with the World Health Organization directing individual health ministries of affected countries to start producing the drug and administering it to coronavirus patients.
In a statement which was made known on Monday march 30th, the United States Department of Health and Human Services detailed recent donations of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and other drugs to a national stockpile – as drugs being investigated as potential COVID-19 treatments.
The statement disclosed that the FDA has now allowed chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients that are infected with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible.
Professor of Cell Biology at University of California, Karine Le Roch, revealed that both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are weak bases that elevate the pH of parts of human cells called organelles – which are analogous to organs in animals – and which are usually acidic and interferes with the virus’ ability to get into cells while preventing them from replicating themselves once they are already inside.
She however added, ‘Although it worked in vitro, but I am still waiting to see published results of large blind clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in vivo”.
Prof. Karine, said China has used chloroquine on a trial of 134 patients in as at February, and its findings was effective in reducing the severity of the illness, according to officials.
Meanwhile In France, a team led by Didier Raoult of the IHU-Mediterranee Infection, Marseille, also reported that as at last week they carried out a study on 36 coronavirus patients, and findings show that hydroxychloroquine drastically reduced the viral load among those who received the drug.
