The Rise and Fall of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine in COVID-19

Abstract

On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the unprecedented outbreak of “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” (SARS-CoV-2) to be a pandemic. Thus far, COVID-19 has infected over 58,229,138 individuals and caused 1,382,106 deaths worldwide. This has led to the re-purposing of available drugs under “off-label” use—drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. Both drugs have since been evaluated for their ability to treat COVID-19. Here, we summarize recent evidence regarding the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. All data is current as of November 23, 2020.