Saga of hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19: A cautionary tale

The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed every component of the health care and public health systems with tremendous pressure to identify effective therapies. The saga of hydroxychloroquine should serve as a cautionary tale about the evaluation and promulgation of treatments during urgent situations; COVID-19 is not the first such situation and, unfortunately, will not be the last, according to Dr Neil Schluger of New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York writing in the Annals of International Medicine.

“We should examine carefully not only what we know about hydroxychloroquine but also how we learned it, disseminated it, and put it into practice,” he said.

Dr Schluger’s comments came in response to publication of University of Minnesota Medical School researchers results from the first randomized clinical trial testing hydroxychloroquine for the early treatment of mild COVID-19 among persons who are not hospitalized.