Federal Government Left With 63 Million Doses Of Hydroxychloroquine After FDA Revokes Emergency Use

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked the emergency use authorization of the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 patients Monday, leaving the federal government with a combined surplus of around 65 million useless dosages. The agency, which is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), cited the latest clinical data and medical studies in a statement Monday.

On March 28, the FDA approved various entities to use the two drugs on hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Since then, the government has raced to accumulate the drugs after President Donald Trump touted their effectiveness in news conferences, interviews and social media posts. The president even went as far as to call hydroxychloroquine a “game changer.”

On Monday, the FDA withdrew emergency use authorization. The agency cited data in a statement, saying that there was no reason to believe that either drug proved effective against COVID-19. The FDA also noted that the adverse side effects, which include serious heart complications, no longer outweigh the known and potential risks.

The FDA’s decision leaves the federal government with around 65 million useless chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine dosages. According to HHS spokesperson Carol Danko, 63 million of these are hydroxychloroquine and almost 3 million of these are chloroquine, which has a similar chemical composition to the former.