Debate heats up on malaria drug
Doctors wary over hydroxychloroquine
WASHINGTON, April 7, (AP): President Donald Trump and his administration kept up their outsized promotion Monday of a malaria drug not yet officially approved for fighting the new coronavirus (COVID-19), even though scientists say more testing is needed before it’s proven safe and effective against COVID-19.
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro championed hydroxychloroquine in television interviews a day after the president publicly put his faith in the medication to lessen the toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
“What do I know, I’m not a doctor,” Trump said Sunday. “But I have common sense.”
Trump held out promise for the drug as he grasps for ways to sound hopeful in the face of a mounting death toll and with the worst weeks yet to come for the US. The virus has killed more than 10,000 in the US, and measures meant to contain its spread have taken a painful economic toll and all but frozen life in large swaths of the country.
But medical officials warn that it’s dangerous to be hawking unproven remedies, and even Trump’s own experts have cautioned against it.
The American Medical Association’s president, Dr Patrice Harris, said she personally would not prescribe the drug for a coronavirus patient, saying the risks of severe side-effects were “great and too significant to downplay” without large studies showing the drug is safe and effective.
Harris pointed to the drug’s high risk of causing heart rhythm problems.
“People have their health to lose,” she said. “Your heart could stop.”
In a heated Situation Room meeting of the White House’s coronavirus task force on Saturday, Navarro challenged the top US infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, over his concerns about recommending the drug based only on unscientific anecdotal evidence.
Navarro, who has no formal medical training, erupted at Fauci, raising his voice and claiming the reports of studies he had collected were enough to recommend the drug widely, according to a person familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the blow-up.
Fauci has repeatedly said current studies provide only anecdotal findings that the drug works. In response, Navarro told CNN on Monday: “I would have two words for you: ‘second opinion.’”
Hydroxychloroquine is officially approved for treating malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, not COVID-19. Small, preliminary studies have suggested it might help prevent the new coronavirus from entering cells and possibly help patients clear the virus sooner. But those have shown mixed results.
Doctors are already prescribing the malaria drug to patients with COVID-19, a practice known as off-label prescribing. Research studies are now beginning to test if the drugs truly help COVID-19 patients, and the Food and Drug
KUWAIT CITY, April 7: Dr Ebraheem Duaij Al-Ebraheem Al-Sabah sent a cable of congratulations to the editorial team of the Arab Times sister newspaper Al-Seyassah – on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of its inception.
He praised the level of journalism and professionalism that Al-Seyassah newspaper upholds when reporting local, Arab and international news, as well as its adherence to the principles of impartiality and transparency.
He wished the daily and its crew many more years of service to the beloved nation of Kuwait and its people under the leadership of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.