The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deleted “unusual” guidance regarding the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Reuters reported last week that the CDC “published highly unusual guidance informing doctors they had the option to prescribe the drugs, with key dosing information based on unattributed anecdotes rather than peer-reviewed science.”
“The president is short-circuiting the process with his gut feelings,” Jeffrey Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, told the outlet. “We are in an emergency and we need to rely on our government to ensure that all these potential therapies are tested in the most effective and objective way.”
“Geez!” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, the dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. “No references, no nothing! Why would CDC be publishing anecdotes? That doesn’t make sense. This is very unusual.”
CDC deletes:
The agency deleted the guidance three days after the Reuters report was published.
The page previously said that "some U.S. clinicians have reported anecdotally different hydroxychloroquine dosing," and that the drugs are "reportedly well-tolerated in COVID-19 patients."
It also previously said the drugs "are currently recommended for treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in several countries."
The site now says, "There are no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent or treat COVID-19."
"Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are under investigation in clinical trials,” added the new guidance.
Trump-touted study doesn’t meet standards:
Trump has often cited a small French study showing a “100% cure” rate using the drug on coronavirus patients but the study is not all it was cut out to be.
The Guardian reports that the 36-person study “excluded” four patients, or 10% of their original group, who went to the ICU or died because they were unable to swab their tests daily.
The International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, whose journal published the study, said in a statement that the study does not meet their standards last week.
“The ISAC shares the concerns regarding the above article published recently in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (IJAA),” the statement said. “The ISAC Board believes the article does not meet the Society's expected standard, especially relating to the lack of better explanations of the inclusion criteria and the triage of patients to ensure patient safety."
