Watch | What is hydroxychloroquine?

A video on the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine that shot to fame as it is shown to have shortened the time to clinical recovery of COVID-19 patients

April 13, 2020 07:16 am | Updated 07:18 am IST

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is an anti-malarial drug similar to chloroquine, one of the oldest and best-known anti-malarial drugs, but with lesser side-effects. It can be bought over the counter and is fairly inexpensive.

The drug shot to fame as it is shown to have shortened the time to clinical recovery of COVID-19 patients. However, many of these are in small lab-controlled testing and no proper human trials have been conducted to determine its efficacy.

Also read | India has enough stock of hydroxychloroquine, says Centre

The  Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has cleared HCQ  to be used as a prophylaxis, or preventive medication, by doctors, nurses and other health staff. Union Health Ministry, last month, moved it to Schedule H1 , which can be sold on prescription only.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been a proponent of its use , calling it a “gamechanger”. He warned "retaliation" against India , if it didn't revoke the ban on its exports. India eventually allowed export of the drug.

Also read | More than 29 million hydroxychloroquine doses bought by U.S. have come from India, says President Trump

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