Iowa City, Ia- With no known cure for coronavirus, some doctors in Iowa are prescribing the drug hydroxychloroquine for certain patients.
The Drug has been getting more attention after the President mentioned he had been taking it as a preventative measure after multiple members of the White House staff contracted the virus.
The Food and Drug Administration has not approved hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent coronavirus, but it has issued an Emergency Use Authorization for it, which allows medical providers to use a product in an emergency, like a pandemic. In an interview with KCRG-TV, Dr. Dustin Arnold, the chief medical officer at UnityPoint–St. Luke’s in Cedar Rapids, says he doesn’t recommend people take the drug as a preventative measure.
“That hasn’t been shown to be a benefit,” Arnold says. “But it’s not of harm either, if you’re under a doctor doing it, and the White House physician believes the benefit outweighs the risk, that’s very reasonable.”
The FDA warned in April that hydroxychloroquine can cause heart problems and its use for COVID-19 should be limited to clinical trial settings or for treating certain hospitalized patients.
