Hydroxychloroquine: can it prevent / treat SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) may be used to prevent and/or treat SARS-CoV-2 infection, but better designed and conducted studies are needed to see if this is in fact true. It, along with the investigational intravenous antiviral remdesivir, is currently among the most promising treatments for COVID-19 patients.

The NIH’s DailyMed website lists that HCQ is currently indicated to

Below are some data from two recent studies that have suggested that:

chloroquine (which is similar to HCQ but has a worse safety profile than HCQ and lower in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2) is effective at killing SARS-CoV-2 that have infected human cells that are grown in a petrie dish in the lab (Wang et al. 2020), and
hydroxychloroquine in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin is an effective treatment regimen for COVID-19 (Gautret et al. 2020), however, this study was done in very few patients and the control group was not randomized and clinical benefit was not properly assessed. It involves flawed and limited science (e.g., six HCQ-treated patients were excluded from the study: 3 of these went to the ICU, 1 died, 1 decided to stop treatment due to nausea, and 1 left the hospital and was PCR-negative for SARS-CoV-2). This study is not a good model of the human population and these data can only be treated as anecdotal evidence at this point. It’s important to note that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are associated with QT prolongation and caution is advised when considering these drugs in patients with chronic medical conditions (e.g., renal failure, hepatic disease) or who are receiving medications that might interact to cause arrythmias. PLEASE TALK TO YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE TAKING ANY OF THESE DRUGS — information in this blog post and anywhere else on our website is intended for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY and DOES NOT CONSTITUTE MEDICAL ADVICE.