CDC updates website to remove dosage guidance on drug touted by Georgia, Florida and Trump – By Madeline Holcombe, Jen Christensen and Joe Sutton (CNN) / April 8 2020
(CNN)The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the language used to describe the guidelines for potential — and controversial — coronavirus therapeutics Tuesday.
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malaria drug that has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat coronavirus. With anecdotal reports that the drug offers benefits against the virus, the FDA did issue a limited Emergency Use Authorization to distribute it from the national stockpile.
Previous guidance for doctors included dosages for hydroxychloroquine, even though the agency said the “optimal dosage and duration” to treat coronavirus is still unknown.
The updated guidance is shorter and no longer gives dosage information, details nor studies about the drug. Additional information about other drugs has been removed as well.
CNN has reached out to the CDC for a comment.
President Donald Trump has touted the drug as a possible treatment for the virus that has incited a pandemic. But experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have warned the administration that the drug is unproven and that there are dangers in promoting it before data backs up its efficacy.
Continue to article: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/health/cdc-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine/index.html
