FDA commissioner said a "large pragmatic clinical trial" still needed to be done to expand chloroquine's use to more patients.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that an anti-malaria drug known as chloroquine could be a game-changer in the treatment of coronavirus.
"We're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that's where the FDA has been so great. They've gone through the approval process, it's been approved. And they took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we're going to be able to make that drug available by prescription or states," Trump said during a press conference.
However, the FDA quickly corrected the president in a statement, saying that while it is approved for malaria and several other ailments, it has not yet been approved for the widespread treatment of COVID-19. Commissioner Stephen Hahn said a "large pragmatic clinical trial" still needed to be done to expand chloroquine's use to more patients.
Still, there has been some anecdotal evidence from certain patients that suggests the drug has potential to work. and researchers are beginning to conduct trials into chloroquine.
A renowned French researcher reported successful results in both speeding up healing time and shortening the amount of time the virus is contagious, according to the French news site, Connexion.
Leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that right now there is no "miracle drug" out there.
"Let me put it into perspective for the viewers," he reportedly said on CNN Thursday. "There has been anecdotal non-proven data that it [chloroquine] works. But when you have an uncontrolled trial you can never definitely say that it works."
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