Good news for President Donald Trump — he can have all the hydroxychloroquine he wants.
The federal government suddenly finds itself with a surplus of more than 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine now that the FDA has deemed the anti-malarial medication ineffective in treating coronavirus.
CNN reports that the government began stockpiling donated dosages in late March. That surplus also reportedly includes 2 million doses of a similar drug, chloroquine, that was donated by the Bayer company.
“I worry that history will judge this as having over-invested in one treatment pathway as opposed to looking more broadly at a larger number of treatment candidates,” School of Public Health at the University at Albany dean David Holtgrave, who co-authored a study on hydroxychloroquine and coronavirus, told CNN.
Trump and his media surrogates had long touted hydroxychloroquine as a “game changer” in efforts to contain the pandemic that has killed 120,000 Americans.
The president claimed without proof last month that he had begun taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against coronavirus. A week later, he said he had stopped using it.
The World Health Organization ended its trial of hydroxychloroquine Thursday after finding no reason to believe it is an effective treatment for COVID-19, according to The Hill. The FDA reached its conclusion Tuesday.
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