United States Touts Two Drugs for Coronavirus Treatment

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U.S. President Donald Trump is touting two drugs as possible COVID-19 treatments.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump said chloroquine — an old drug used to treat malaria — “has shown encouraging early results against the virus. We’re going to be able to make that drug available immediately” by prescription.

“It’s been around a long time, so if things don’t go well, we know it won’t kill anyone,” said the president, who described chloroquine as a possible “game changer.”

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Coronavirus Outbreak
Trump Touts Two Drugs for Coronavirus Treatment
By Steve Herman
Updated March 19, 2020 09:04 PM
U.S. President Donald Trump points to a reporter to ask a question during the coronavirus response daily briefing at the White…
FILE - President Donald Trump takes questions during the coronavirus response daily briefing at the White House in Washington, March 18, 2020.

WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump is touting two drugs as possible COVID-19 treatments.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump said chloroquine — an old drug used to treat malaria — “has shown encouraging early results against the virus. We’re going to be able to make that drug available immediately” by prescription.

“It’s been around a long time, so if things don’t go well, we know it won’t kill anyone,” said the president, who described chloroquine as a possible “game changer.”

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Remdesivir, developed as a treatment for Ebola and Marburg viral infections, also is to be reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 treatment, Trump said.

The FDA commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, however, stated that the two drugs would have to undergo large clinical trials before they could be generally prescribed to treat COVID-19. 

Hahn also mentioned the potential of “convalescent plasma,” calling it “a pretty exciting area.”

“If you’ve been exposed to coronavirus and you’re better, you don’t have the virus in your blood. We could collect the blood,” Hahn said, cautioning that this is a “possible” but not “proven treatment.” 

These therapies are the best hope to combat the coronavirus sweeping the world, as approval for any vaccine could take as long as 18 months.

The White House’s coronavirus coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, cautioned that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases would spike in the next two to three days as testing continues to escalate.
 
“It’s a medical war. We have to win this war,” Trump said.
 
Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, a vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service, appealed from the White House podium for people across the country to donate blood.
 
“One donation can save up to three lives,” he said.
 
Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the coronavirus task force, announced that tens of millions of N95 respirator masks produced by 3M since January are available and can be sold to hospitals, regardless of whether they were intended for use in other industries.