Update on use of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Jianjun Gao, Shasha Hu
BioScience Trends, doi:10.5582/bst.2020.03072
Coronavirus disease 2019 has caused more than 1 million confirmed cases and approximately 70,000 deaths worldwide as of April 6, 2020 (1). Drugs that are specifically efficacious against SARS-CoV-2 have yet to be established. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have garnered considerable attention for their potential to treat COVID-19. In China, chloroquine was added to the "Guidance for Corona Virus Disease 2019: Prevention, Control, Diagnosis, and Management" issued by the National Health Commission on February 18, 2020 (2). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization for chloroquine/ hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 on March 28, 2020 (3). The European Medicines Agency contended that the two drugs should be used in clinical trials or national emergency use programs for the treatment of COVID-19 on April 1, 2020 (4). The low cost and easy availability of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine may help to curb this global public health emergency if their efficacy and safety are ultimately verified in clinical studies. Chloroquine phosphate is the first drug reported to display efficacy against COVID-19 in early clinical studies in China (5, 6) . Based on this encouraging finding, chloroquine phosphate was added to the Sixth Edition of the Guidance for tentative treatment of . The Sixth Edition recommended that adult patients in whom chloroquine is not contraindicated should take chloroquine phosphate tablets, 500 mg (300 mg for chloroquine) twice a day for no more than 10 days (7). To reduce the risk of adverse effects of chloroquine, the Seventh Edition of the Guidance, issued on March 3, 2020, recommends a reduced dosage and shortened
References
Chen, Hu, Zhang, Jiang, Han et al., Efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19: Results of a randomized clinical trial, medRxiv,
doi:10.1101/2020.03.22.20040758Chen, Liu, Liu, Xu, Xia et al., A pilot study of hydroxychloroquine in treatment of patients with common coronavirus disease-19
Gao, Tian, Yang, Breakthrough: Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in clinical studies, Biosci Trends
Gautret, Lagier, Parola, Clinical and microbiological effect of a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin
Gautret, Lagier, Parola, Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial, Int J Antimicrob Agents,
doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105949Huang, Tang, Pang, Treating COVID-19 with Chloroquine, J Mol Cell Biol
Lenzer, Covid-19: US gives emergency approval to hydroxychloroquine despite lack of evidence, BMJ
Liu, Cao, Xu, Wang, Zhang et al., Hydroxychloroquine, a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, is effective in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro, Cell Discov
Zhou, Yu, Du, Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A retrospective cohort study, Lancet
