FDA Gives Emergency Authorization For Drug To Fight COVID-19

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Hot off the heels of reports that a French doctor and other medical professionals had been testing a decades-old malaria drug on COVID-19 patients, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just issued an emergency authorization for the treatment.

According to a new report from Politico on MSN, the FDA issued the authorization on Sunday, March 29th, 2020. The emergency order grants doctors the ability to prescribe hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to hospitalized teen and adult patients suffering from COVID-19.

The FDA has allowed these drugs, normally used to treat malaria, to be donated to the Strategic National Stockpile and two drugmakers have already contributed. Sandoz has donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine while Bayer has donated 1 million doses of chloroquine.

“Let’s see if it works,” President Trump said in a briefing on Sunday.

The President has been speaking about the drugs and their use in the fight for the last week or so – long before they were approved. In one instance, a man and woman overdosed on a chloroquine-based product in an effort to prevent themselves from contracting COVID-19. Sadly, the man died.

Hydroxychloroquine has been commercially available in the United States since 1955 and a month’s supply costs roughly $20.

Using a drug that has been around this long and is widely available could prove to be a game-changer in the battle to save hundreds of thousands of lives. But, only if it works.

Right now, more than 1,000 COVID-19 people are trialing the treatment in New York and more are expected to be added as time goes on.

Watch Fox News’ coverage of the drug and its recent history in the media below.