Several hospitals in the US
are using antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19
positive patients, a media report has said.
MDedge, a medical
publication, on Friday reported that hydroxychloroquine is currently the
first-line therapy and Tocilizumab the second-line medication for people
hospitalized with polymerase chain reaction-confirmed COVID-19 infection in the
Yale New Haven Health System, which operates hospitals across Connecticut.
"Hydroxychloroquine is
first-line at Yale because in-vitro data shows potent inhibition of the virus
and possible clinical benefit, which is about as good as evidence gets at the
moment," Indian-American cardiologist Nihar Desai told the medical
publication.
"It's cheap, it's been
used for decades, and people are relatively comfortable with it," he
added.
"We are trying to do
the best we can. One hopes we never have to go through anything like this
(coronavirus pandemic) again," Desai told MDedge.
His home institution, Yale
New Haven Hospital, is almost half full with COVID-19 patients, at more than
400, the report said.
On US President Donald
Trump's request, India allowed the export of 50 million HCQ tablets to treat
COVID-19 patients in America, the worst-hit country by the pandemic.
-- PTI
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Medicine