is no longer beating the hydroxychloroquine drum.
But at the height of Trump’s hydroxychloroquine fever, the federal government bought millions of doses. One side effect of that rush to judgment: Americans who use the drug to treat illnesses like lupus face shortages.
Interest in hydroxychloroquine peaked in mid-March when it began to pick up celebrity endorsements from the likes of Elon Musk, who tweeted that “it may be worth considering” following some early Chinese research into the drug.
French researcher Didier Raoult helped rocket the anti-malarial to international prominence and Trump’s Twitter feed with a study of chloroquine and azithromycin. Raoult claimed the two produced “promising” results in COVID-19 patients, which, he claimed, “open the possibility of an international strategy to decisionmakers to fight this emerging viral infection in real-time.”
But Raoult’s study came under intense criticism for its design and small sample size—and the International Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, which published the article, later issued a statement saying it “does not meet the Society’s expected standard.” Remarkably, the criticism did not dull the celebrity endorsements with Dr. Oz and Laura Ingraham touting the drug on Fox News.
