Hydroxychloroquine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1956. HCQ, short for hydroxychloroquine, is used today to prevent, or treat malaria. President Trump has suggested that it might be useful in the fight against COVID-19. So why is the media opposition going berserk?

It was during a March 19, 2020 press briefing that President Trump first mentioned hydroxychloroquine as a possible “game changer” in the fight against COVID-19.  Since then, this antimalarial drug has been lifted out of obscurity and placed center stage for public view, and now, public ridicule.  How is it that a drug, with roots tracing back to the bark of a tree discovered in the 1600’s, became so polarizing?  In 1638, when an Incan herbalist treated Countess Cinchona’s (wife of the Viceroy of Peru) malaria with the bark of a tree, and she fully recovered, nobody could have imagined that 382 years later the active substance in that tree bark would be so politicalized.

Eventually it was discovered that the substance within the bark that cured Countess Cinchona’s malaria was quinine.  Consequently, the tree was named the Cinchona tree.  In the 1800’s quinine was used in the United States as a malaria treatment.  During World War II, a derivative of quinine, chloroquine, was used by the United States military fighting in the Pacific.  Chloroquine was quickly discovered to deliver a high amount of toxicities, making it a less than favorable treatment for malaria for the troops.  Scientists solved the toxicity side effects in 1945 through a chemical process called hydroxylation.  Subjecting the derivative of quinine, chloroquine, to hydroxylation produced what we know today to be hydroxychloroquine.  Also referred to as HCQ, hydroxychloroquine is less toxic than chloroquine.  The hydroxychloroquine compound has remained the same for the past 75 years.

Since its inception, hydroxychloroquine has been taken to prevent or treat malaria caused by mosquito bites.  HCQ is also used to treat auto-immune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.  Today HCQ is classified as a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD).  Millions upon millions of dosages of hydroxychloroquine have been taken over the past 75 years.  In 1956, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved HCQ for symptoms of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, to include skin inflammation, fatigue, and joint pain.

It is estimated that there are 1.5 million people in the United States that live with the auto-immune disease lupus.  Lupus is an inflammatory disease caused when a person’s immune system attacks its own tissues.  There is no known cure for lupus.  HCQ has demonstrated, with overwhelming success, the ability to greatly reduce the symptoms of the lupus disease.  Without hydroxychloroquine, lupus patients face greater pain and suffering, and even death.  It is accepted that HCQ increases the long-term survival rate of lupus patients. 

The known side effects of hydroxychloroquine are common.  A headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, weight loss, irritability, skin rash, and hair loss are all potential side effects of HCQ. However, as is the case with practically all prescription medications, some people will have dangerous reactions to the drug.  A small percentage of patients taking HCQ will experience seizures, severe weakness, loss of coordination, low blood cell counts, heart disease, and even heart failure.  These are all potential side effects of hydroxychloroquine. 

Today hydroxychloroquine is sold under the brand name Plaquenil.  With millions of people taking Plaquenil, it is considered a safe and well-tolerated medication.  Serious side effects are rare – but they do occur.  In rare cases, when combined with other medication, a change in heart rhythm has occurred.  If a patient has a pre-existing heart condition, is sick with COVID-19, and has other medications in his or her blood, the risk of serious injury or death from taking hydroxychloroquine is significantly higher than for a patient that has COVID-19 with no pre-existing conditions.

Is HCQ a viable treatment for COVID-19?  Thousands of COVID-19 patients have been treated with the drug.  Many have recovered from the disease and credit hydroxychloroquine.  Other patients have died.  Oddly, if their loved one’s political party affiliation is democrat, the President of the United States will be blamed for the death. 

A recent study concluded that COVID-19 patients who took hydroxychloroquine faced a higher risk of death than those who did not take the drug.   Published in The Lancet, this report has been all the rave on the liberal news channels.  As we all well know, if Trump is for it, they are against it.  CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, along with the majority of newspapers ran with stories of how dangerous Trump was by saying that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against the virus. 

What the media and the President are both getting wrong about hydroxychloroquine is the fact that until it goes through the riggers of a clinical trial – a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial – its risks and rewards as a COVID-19 treatment remain uncertain.  What we know is anything in a high enough dosage will have adverse side effects.  We also know some people have adverse side effects to certain medications while other people do not.  Hydroxychloroquine is used regularly by millions of people every day.  Some people cannot tolerate the side effects.  The recent study that the liberal media is holding up as further proof that Trump needs to be removed from office was only an observation study. 

A final thought – Hydroxychloroquine has come a long way from when it was branded as Jesuit’s Powder in the 1600’s.  It has helped millions and millions of people over the centuries.  It’s not the curse the media is now making it out to be.  It has helped some COVID-19 patients.  This is undeniable.  It has also harmed some COVID-19 patients.  This is why medicine is referred to as a practice.  We are responsible for what we put in our bodies.  No matter what the President of the United States says, or the Speaker of the House – it’s your body.  Do your own research.  Weigh the risks and rewards.  Make an informed decision as to whether HCQ is right for you.