Washington: The White House has urged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reinstate its emergency use authorization (EUA) for the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), for COVID-19 treatment.
Weeks ago, the FDA revoked the EUA that allowed for HCQ used to treat certain hospitalized patients with COVID-19, after the agency determined that the drug was “unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA”, while highlighting potential serious side effects, reports Xinhua news agency.
“White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is leading a Trump administration effort to demand the FDA reverse course,” the Washington Post said in a report on Monday. “A reversal (on HCQ) would be widely seen as bending to the political will of the White House,” the Washington Post quoted Steven Joffe, a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, as saying. (IANS)