FDA issues emergency authorization of anti-malaria drug for coronavirus care. The drugs have been championed by President Donald Trump for treatment despite scant evidence.

The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by President Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence.

The agency allowed for the drugs to be "donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible," HHS said in a statement, announcing that Sandoz donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the stockpile and Bayer donated 1 million doses of chloroquine.

The move was supported by the White House, part of a larger Trump-backed effort to speed the use of anti-malaria drugs as a potential therapy for a virus that has no proven treatment or cure. FDA already has allowed New York state to test administering the medication to seriously ill patients, and some hospitals have added it to their treatment protocols.

"Let's see how it works," Trump said at a press briefing on Sunday, referencing New York state's efforts. "It may. It may not."

Career scientists have been skeptical of the effort, noting the lack of data on the drug’s efficacy for coronavirus care and worried that it would siphon medication away from patients who need it for other conditions, calling instead for the agency to pursue its usual clinical trials.

Three officials told POLITICO that FDA’s planned move would facilitate more access to the drug by allowing more manufacturers to produce or donate it.

daddytime:
Nigerian Chemists don hammer.

life2017:
This is what Trump have said weeks ago and the media wanted to eat him raw.

Trump was clear. He was asking for emergency approval. But the media went crazy.

Well I think they have seen some reasonable evidence base on results in New York (not the proper clinical trial) that the drug is working.

They have now skip waiting for more trials.

daddytime:
Nigerian Chemists don hammer.

The price at which a typical savage and shylock Nigerian pharmacy would offer one those drugs at these times would leave one choosing between a bag of rice and some pills.

Wicked, evil business people we have with no fear of God not respect for human life.