Social media users share reports claiming “hydroxychloroquine is now okay”, but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Medical Association (AMA) told Reuters that their lead against the treatment of COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine or to be careful reflects their current positions as they appear in this article.
Examples of the postings can be seen here, here and here.
Hydroxychloroquine is a drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of arthritis and to treat or prevent malaria (here). Former US President Trump said last March that hydroxychloroquine could be a game changer in the coronavirus pandemic. He also said he takes it himself, even after the FDA advised that its effectiveness and safety are unproven (here).
The FDA revoked the Hydroxychloroquine Emergency Use (EUA) authorization for the treatment of COVID-19 on June 15, 2020, after the results of several clinical trials did not show that HCQ can be safe and effective for the treatment or prevention of COVID- 19 not (here, here).
On July 1, 2020, the FDA published a summary of their review of safety issues with the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of patients with COVID-19, seen here. Chanapa Tantibanchachai, FDA press officer, emailed Reuters on April 9, 2021, saying it was the FDA’s most recent update and that the FDA had not changed its position on hydroxychloroquine since June 15, 2020.
Hillary Hoffman of the Office of Communications and Government Relations at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told Reuters by email on April 9, 2021, that the “current recommendations of the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel on Hydroxychloroquine” here can be seen and here. These pages indicate that the NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines panel recommends against the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.
On 2 March 2021, the expert panel of the World Health Organization’s Guideline Development Group (GDG) gave a ‘strong recommendation’ that hydroxychloroquine should not be used to prevent COVID-19 and said that the drug has no significant effect on patients who already infected (here, here).
The social media posts possibly refer to comments made by the conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh, who is now deceased, in December 2020 (here). Limbaugh claims that the American Medical Association (AMA) (www.ama-assn.org/about) conceded that hydroxychloroquine is ‘okay’ by withdrawing a previous statement against the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 ( here).
In March 2020, the AMA issued a joint statement of position with the American Pharmacists Association and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, visible here, urging caution in prescribing hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 (‘off-label’ which means an approved drug to treat another medical condition that the drug does not approve, as set forth by the FDA here).
Following Limbaugh’s claims, AMA tweeted that their position in March 2020 would remain unchanged here . In October 2020, a resolution was proposed that AMA revoke its statement on HCQ (here), but at the November 2020 meeting it was decided that this resolution would not be adopted (here).
Robert Mills, AMA’s Media Relations Coordinator, told Reuters by email on April 9, 2021, that their March statement, updated in April, was still AMA’s current position: “The position statement has never been withdrawn. , but it was updated in April 2020 to reflect emerging information at the time. The updated statement of April, which is still cautious, can be seen here.
Reuters has previously downplayed other claims related to HCQ and COVID-19 here, here and here.
VERDICT
Untrue. As of April 9, medical institutions in the United States have not changed their guidelines against prescribing hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.