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Suggested medicine for Corona 19 chloroquine hype triggers rush on pharmacies

Long used as treatment for malaria and other ailments, chloroquine derivatives are being touted as a miracle cure in the fight against the worsening coronavirus pandemic. But the resulting surge in demand at French pharmacies has alarmed experts who warn against overhyping unproven medicines until large-scale clinical tests are carried out.

 Medical staff at the IHU Institut Méditerranée Infection in Marseille, France, show packets of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine
Chloroquine and its related compound, hydroxychloroquine, have been the focus of intense debate in France since a study conducted on a small number of COVID-19 patients in the southern city of Marseille yielded promising results.
On March 16, Professor Didier Raoult, the head of a university hospital institute in Marseille, announced his teams had treated 25 patients with hydroxychloroquine. After six days, he said, only one in four still had the virus in their body, whereas 90 percent of patients who had not taken the drug were still infected.
Raoult’s subsequent calls to expand the treatment, which garnered ample media attention, triggered a rush on French pharmacies – even as medical experts stressed the importance of first carrying out further trials on larger patient samples.
Philippe Besset, who heads the main representative body of French pharmacists, the FSPF, said pharmacies had witnessed a surge in demand for hydroxychloroquine, marketed by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi under the trade name Plaquénil.

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