Despite warnings, Trump defends use of hydroxychloroquine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned in late April against the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for COVID-19 “outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems.”

“Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19,” the FDA said in a release. “They are being studied in clinical trials for COVID-19.”

Separately, a study released by the U.S. Veterans Health Administration last month suggested the drug was ineffective in treating patients with COVID-19 and found that the two primary outcomes for patients treated with the drug were the need for mechanical ventilation and death.

Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, told CNBC in an interview on Monday that he thinks doctors who were taking hydroxychloroquine “prophylactically” have pulled back.

“Because a lot of the subsequent data hasn’t been encouraging,” Gottlieb said. “We want this to work, but it doesn’t seem like it’s working, at least in the studies that we have right now.”