Cooler but still well above normal this week

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday 

 a special status known as emergency use authorization for the drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

Emergency use authorization is designed to facilitate the availability of drugs needed during public health emergencies. It allows unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in such emergencies.

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were initially designed as anti-malarial drugs and later shown to be useful in treating certain autoimmune disorders. Early on in the pandemic, some researchers thought the drugs might be useful in treating COVID-19. Laboratory tests showed hydroxychloroquine interfered with the ability of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 to enter cells. There were also hints from the use of the drugs in patients that they might be helpful. The FDA 

 the emergency use authorization in March.

But those early positive results came from small studies that did not stand up well to scientific scrutiny. Larger, more carefully designed studies 

"It is no longer reasonable to believe that oral formulations of [hydroxychloroquine] and [chloroquine] may be effective in treating COVID-19, nor is it reasonable to believe that the known and potential benefits of these products outweigh their known and potential risks," said FDA chief scientist Denise M. Hinton put it in the

The FDA decision does not affect the use of the drugs in approved clinical trials. 

Health

COVID-19

Joe Palca

Author

Emergency use authorization makes it easier for doctors to use a drug in a manner not specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA granted these drugs this status in March.

FDA withdraws emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox