As more attention focuses on hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for COVID-19, the FDA issues a warning about its inappropriate use
to allow doctors to use the drug on hospitalized patients whose symptoms are not improving. Several studies were also launched to study its effects as a COVID-19 treatment.
However, hydroxychloroquine can have negative effects on the heart, contributing to abnormal heart rhythms that can be life-threatening. For those with existing heart problems, the dangers could be even greater, especially if the drug is combined with the antibiotic azithromycin, as some researchers treating COVID-19 patients have done.
The drugs are approved for treating malaria, and in the case of hydroxychloroquine, also for treating autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. For people taking the drug for an autoimmune disorder, their doctors monitor for signs of adverse heart events and can adjust dosage as needed.
The FDA’s safety alert doesn’t say those patients should stop taking the drugs they need, but instead warns general consumers to “not buy these medicines from online pharmacies without a prescription from your health care professional.” The alert stresses that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine “should be used for COVID-19 only where patients can be appropriately monitored in the hospital as required by the EUA or are enrolled in a clinical trial with appropriate screening and monitoring.
involving 368 COVID-19 patients at U.S. Veterans Health Administration hospitals found that taking hydroxychloroquine alone, or in combination with azithromycin, did not reduce the need for a ventilator compared to those not taking the drugs. Further, people taking hydroxychloroquine alone had a higher risk of dying during the study than those not taking the drug.
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