Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are medications used to treat a few autoimmune diseases such as lupus. They are also anti malarial drugs. Although many people have been excited about the potential for them to treat COVID-19, there isn’t strong data to support this possibility. Unfortunately, there have been cases of “medication hoarding” of these drugs—which puts people who really, definitely benefit from them (people with lupus or rheumatoid arthritis) in danger. We hope to have proven treatments for COVID-19 ASAP, but for everyone’s safety it’s important that we have strong data suggesting benefit before getting too excited about a medication (especially one with potentially dangerous side effects!)
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