Chinese doctors who have for months treated coronavirus patients with chloroquine say there is no clear evidence the anti-malarial drug is effective against the deadly pathogen, raising questions about a remedy President Trump has touted as a potential cure.
One of them, however, saw some promise for Kaletra—an antiretroviral drug for HIV.
In hospital interviews arranged Thursday by government authorities in Wuhan, the central Chinese city of 11 million where the new coronavirus crisis erupted late last year, doctors called for further research into chloroquine’s effectiveness against the virus.
The doctors also cautioned that some recovered patients had tested positive again, while expressing concern about asymptomatic cases, dozens of which have been disclosed in recent days across China.
Chloroquine has been the subject of fierce debate within the U.S. administration. In recent days, Mr. Trump has advised even those without symptoms to take the drug, in defiance of advice from public health experts and some of his own medical advisors.
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro has cited a study from Wuhan, among other evidence, to argue for the federal government to distribute its stockpile of one form of the drug—hydroxychloroquine—to hard-hit areas of the U.S.
Zhang Dingyu, the head of Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, which has handled hundreds of coronavirus cases since December, said the evidence on chloroquine was so far inconclusive.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chines...cast-doubt-on-chloroquine-as-cure-11586448660