Too soon to tell, say docs
didn’t believe hydoxychloroquine was working for coronavirus patients there. “We don’t have the impression there’s spectacular efficacy. It’s probably not effective,” he told French TV news channel BFM.
U.S. regulators recently gave emergency approval to the Trump administration’s plan to distribute millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine and a related medication, chloroquine. “Based on the totality of scientific evidence available to FDA, it is reasonable to believe that chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate may be effective in treating COVID-19,” FDA chief scientist Denise Hinton said in a letter.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb withheld his endorsement in a media interview. “I wouldn’t place all my bets with hydroxychloroquine,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday.
“Hydroxychloroquine may work, but I will say that it’s being used pretty widely in Italy and the U.S. and if it was having a very robust treatment effect, we probably would have seen it,” he said. “So if it’s positive as having an effect, it’s not an effect that’s very apparent.”
While the scientific community waits for reliable data, non-scientists boost the drugs.
An analysis of Fox News broadcasts between March 23 and March 25 conducted by Media Matters found the network promoted the use of hydoxychloroquine and chloroquine more than 100 times, “creating a dangerous false impression of a working treatment for the deadly disease.”
Social media companies are policing posts about the drugs and removing exaggerated claims. Twitter removed a post by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, that claimed hydroxychloroquine was “100% effective” at treating COVID-19.
“As a science purist, I would say the data is interesting. It’s encouraging. But I don’t think it rises to the level of necessarily shouting from on high that this medication, hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin, is going to be the cure-all,” Ackerman told The News.
“The evidence that we have so far would never be enough to normally lead to an FDA-approved indication,” he said. “It’s still too early to tell for sure.”