Malaria drug for COVID-19? Read this to know the truth

Most recently, Donald Trump said that chloroquine, an old malaria drug, may help treat novel coronavirus or COVID-19.  The US President reportedly claimed that the drug will be available “almost immediately.”

He even said that the US Food and Drug Administration has been working “to approve the drug much faster than normal to treat COVID-19.”  He added, “The drug won’t kill anybody even though it is a very powerful one.  It has already shown very, very encouraging early results. It will be issued by doctors as a prescription.”  

Dr. Swetha Nayadu was recently quoted as saying that “Chloroquine, which is primarily used for the treatment of malaria and also in autoimmune diseases, even diabetes, showed some efficacy in treating SARS.  As Covid-19 belongs to the same family of the virus, it is included in the treatment protocol.”  

But is Trump being honest and are we in for a drug very soon?  Not quite the case.  The FDA has declared that it is not working on approving the drug.  Just minutes after Trump’s speech, FDA Commissioner Hahn said  that the “use of the drug would be in a clinical trial to find out whether it works, and if so what dose would safe and effective.”  

It will be a long time before the drug will be made available for use against COVID-19.  There are many if’s here.  It’s better to be sceptical than sorry, Trump’s critics are saying.