A Salvadoran Health Ministry worker shows a package of bottles of HydroxyChloroquine pills to be distributed in hospitals in San Salvador on April 21, 2020, amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP) (Photo by YURI CORTEZ/AF The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned doctors against prescribing a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus except in hospitals and research studies.
In an alert, regulators flagged reports of sometimes fatal heart side effects among coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine or the related drug chloroquine.
The decades-old drugs, also prescribed for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, can cause a number of side effects, including heart