The Nine Lives of Hydroxychloroquine
Posted on 08/06/2020 10:28:21 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
Is hydroxychloroquine a generally safe drug?
The politically charged atmosphere surrounding the drug in the context of COVID-19 can present a distorted picture. But the best evidence suggests that it has few adverse effects, although it does present some risks for patients with heart conditions.
Dr. Alieta Eck, who prescribed hydroxychloroquine for her patients who had COVID-19 symptoms, was confident the drug was safe.
"My feeling was that it was not going to do any harm, which is true. It’s a very safe medicine," said Eck, an internist in New Jersey.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of hydroxychloroquine in 1955. The approved uses include treatment for malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. In late March of this year, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine, which allowed state and local supplies of the drug to be supplemented from the strategic national stockpile.
"It is a very safe drug as far as drugs go," said Dr. Kevin Pham, a physician and a visiting policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "But we should remember that there are no drugs that are benign. All drugs that have some effect on the human body have the potential for a side effect."
A review of nine randomized controlled trials, often considered the gold standard for medical research, found that hydroxychloroquine caused greater skin pigmentation than a placebo. It did not cause other possible adverse events, such as dizziness, gastrointestinal distress, or vision problems. However, the research did not examine cardiovascular problems.
Pham noted that one well-known side effect of hydroxychloroquine is a "QT prolongation." A QT prolongation occurs when the heart muscle takes longer than normal to recharge between beats. It can result in an arrhythmia in which the heart beats faster than normal, a potentially deadly condition. A recent study of patients using hydroxychloroquine found that those with a history of heart disease and kidney disease were more susceptible to QT prolongation.
Eck, though, thinks that heart problems are not likely with short-term use.
"Any medicine you give for [only] five to seven days is probably not going to cause an arrhythmia," she said. "Once a person is already in the hospital with this disease, once they are already intubated, there is a host of reasons why they are going to start getting an arrhythmia. To blame hydroxychloroquine is almost unfair because the patient is probably on eight other drugs."
While some research shows that long-term use of the drug can cause heart problems, there is little evidence that it causes heart problems in otherwise healthy patients taking the drug for a short period.
The FDA cited about 109 cases of serious cardiac complications when, on June 15, it revoked its emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine. Of those, 80 reported QT prolongation. However, the FDA's database only contained patients who took hydroxychloroquine and suffered an adverse event. It did not have data on the total number of patients, making it impossible to know how often cardiac complications occurred.
"In a vacuum, the FDA’s decision wouldn’t be incorrect," said Pham. "But we don’t live in a vacuum. We live in a political reality where it has become this ideological totem. And it really needs to not be that. It needs to be based on whatever evidence becomes available."
Jack Mozloom, vice president of public affairs at the National Community Pharmacists Association, concurred that politics has affected the debate over hydroxychloroquine.
"It’s undeniable. The president started it when he opined on the effectiveness of the drug, and then his adversaries latched on to that as a political football," he said. "It’s been a mess ever since."
President Trump touted the drug at a press conference in early March. In late May, the atmosphere became more charged when the medical journal The Lancet published a study showing that patients taking hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 had a 34% increased risk of dying and a 137% increased risk of a heart arrhythmia. It was used by some to criticize Trump's promotion of the drug. The study was later retracted when the data it used turned out to be fraudulent.
The debate was rekindled last week when America’s Frontline Doctors held a press conference saying they’d successfully treated COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine. The presser went viral after hundreds of thousands of people, including Trump, shared a video of it. Soon, the video was pulled by YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter on the grounds that it spread misinformation about the coronavirus. Twitter even suspended the account of Donald Trump Jr. after he shared it.
While many claims from America’s Frontline Doctors are at odds with the available evidence, it is still unclear what impact hydroxychloroquine, when combined with other medications, has on patients who are in the early stages of the disease.
"There are open questions about how to administer this drug. The science isn’t settled yet," said Pham. "We should be open to the possibility that either it works or it doesn’t work."
Let's keep encouraging the 'Doctors who actually treat patients' to voice their opinions by letting them know millions of people agree with them.
A cure means no emergency deployment of a vaccine.
Only 65 years of anecdotal evidence? That's not nearly enough time to make a definitive determination.
Cavuto BTFO ... again.
Never tell a simple straightforward truth. Always hedge and fudge a statement.
HCQ is as safe as any drug. It is used around the world in billions of doses a year for malaria prophylaxis and in most of Africa is sold over the counter.
Tens of thousands of people getting it, not one instance of
anyone dying from it’s use. No massive reports of ill
affects.
Yeah, I’d say it’s been cleared. LOL
bttt
Waiting for more definitive results. :-)
(FYI -The Z pak is what has some warnings, but these come with it, no matter what it is prescribed for.)
Why in the hell doesn’t someone point out that the MAIN problem with Hydroxychloroquin (sp?) is the very simple fact that the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump had the unmitigated nerve to suggest its use.
I believe that if Trump had NEVER mentioned a syllable of the drug, it would be today a “revered’ “miracle drug” that had been waiting for years to be recognized.
If Trump had, rather, condemned Hydrozy, the MEDIA would have demanded that everyone on Planet Earth be given the proper doses.
Could it be made OTC? And Zinc is already available OTC. Haven’t these two shown success treating/preventing CCP Virus?
According to America’s Frontline Doctors, it is available OTC in some countries—like IRAN?!?!
No! No! No! You will ALL DIE IF YOU TAKE IT! EVERYBODY IN TEH MSM SAYS SO!................
Steve Bannon is hosting a 2 hour special episode of his “Warrom:Pandemic” podcast on America’s Voice (10:00am EDT) that will fully discuss the pros and cons with the leading medical experts on Saturday, 8/8). He is bringing in Dr. Harvey Risch, Dr. Vlad Zelenko, Dr. Judy Vliet and several others that are using HCQ today to expose the politically and economically driven suppression of this safe and inexpensive early treatment.
Bannon is pushing to have the President sign an executive order to get the FDA to approve HCQ for use outside hospitals as a trophallactic and early infection treatment.
From my wife just now: She just came back from Romanian hairdresser who has been doing her hair for many years. She [hairdresser] came to America in her 30’s. Her mom is still in the old country...along with her sister. Mom was feeling bad and achey for a couple of days. Sis gave mom some tylenol and she was feeling much better a day or so later. Sis wanted to take her into the doctors to get a CoVid test. She went and tested positive and they let her go back home because she insisted that she was feeling fine. The ambulance came this morning and picked up feeling fine mom. They said it was required. Mom’s in a hospital ward. The sis can remain home under self quarantine for now...and is not allowed in to see mom. They’ll allow mom a phonecall once a day. Mom takes pills for anxiety. Whoa boy! Hairdresser is a huge Trump/America supporter. Take that for what it’s worth. I’m not making this up.
See something/say something file.
“Always hedge and fudge a statement.”
Great catch. It gives the smart criminal “plausible deniability”. It works until it doesn’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRd6rmnKUxg
You are an interestingly odd character! LOL
Good story. I believe it.
hydroxychloroquine is safer than the gin and tonic it replaces
The Nine Lives of Hydroxychloroquine
That’s exactly right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.