President Donald Trump confirmed during a news conference Thursday that the FDA has rapidly approved hydroxychloroquine, a drug commonly used to treat malaria, to be prescribed to help treat Coronavirus.There's some confusion about whether the FDA has "rapidly approved" the use of hydroxychoroquine, but it's already on the market to treat malaria and will doubtless soon be prescribed for COVID-19. If it is effective it may shorten the length of time we're held hostage to this disease.
Following the news conference, Trump campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted, "President Donald Trump announces HUGE news!! Hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, has shown encouraging early results against the coronavirus. By eliminating red tape, President Trump will be able to make this drug available almost immediately."
According to Gregory Rigano, the project lead on clinical trials for COVID-19 prevention, a recent controlled clinical study has shown that 100% of patients treated with a combination of HCQ and Azithromycin were "virologically cured" within six days of treatment (see the previous link).
If this is not a false hope but rather a genuine breakthrough it could be one of the greatest blessings God has ever bestowed upon this country, not only in terms of lives saved but in terms of the devastating economic consequences of a prolonged shutdown of so much of this country's - and the world's - large and small businesses.
We should know soon enough whether the president's optimism is justified, but we should certainly hope and pray that it is. It's hard to imagine the consequences of continuing on like this for several more months.