Because the 73-year-old president is not hospitalized nor does he have COVID-19, he’s a less-than-ideal candidate for the drug
The drug has been approved for arthritis and preventing and treating malaria but recent studies have found that the drug can cause serious heart rhythm problems for COVID-19 patients.
If taken outside of a clinical trial, patients can run the risk of “low blood sugar, particularly among people with diabetes; anemia and other blood problems; worsening of seizures and other neurology (brain) problems; and retina (layer of eye tissue) damage that can cause vision problems,” according to an FAQ page on the FDA’s website.
The FDA only approved hydroxychloroquine to be used under the Emergency Use Authorization protocol after limited evidence showed the drug had shown some promise to prevent the growth of COVID-19.
One study has shown that the drug has no effect on treating the novel coronavirus and there was a higher death rate amongst test subjects taking hydroxychloroquine, CNN reported at the end of April.
