Devex: The hydroxychloroquine conundrum
“The World Health Organization’s decision to stop the hydroxychloroquine arm of a large-scale clinical trial, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s revocation of the drug’s emergency use authorization has cast doubts over the drug’s potential to treat COVID-19 patients. But experts are divided on whether more research is required to rule out the efficacy of the drug. Some have long been convinced the drug also known as HCQ bears no benefits in treating COVID-19, or if it does it will likely be small. For those stakeholders, the decisions taken by WHO and U.S. FDA are welcome, if not long overdue. But others argue not all aspects of the drug’s benefits have been ruled out to date — for example, on how beneficial the drug is as a prophylaxis…” (Ravelo, 6/24).