These drugs are helping Coronavirus patients

Some doctors in France, South Korea and the United States have started using a new drug that has shown great progress in treating patients with Coronavirus.
The drug is called hydroxychloroquine, it is used to treat patients with lupus, arthritis, and malaria. It is very safe, however some of the side effects could be stomach irritation and changes in vision.

Studies of hydroxychloroquine continue, although these may take several weeks or even longer.
It will be very useful to treat mild cases and young patients, which would significantly decrease viral transmission.

Here’s an article from wsj.com

A flash of potential good news from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic: A treatment is showing promise. Doctors in France, South Korea and the U.S. are using an antimalarial drug known as hydroxychloroquine with success. We are physicians treating patients with Covid-19, and the therapy appears to be making a difference. It isn’t a silver bullet, but if deployed quickly and strategically the drug could potentially help bend the pandemic’s “hockey stick” curve.

Hydroxychloroquine is a common generic drug used to treat lupus, arthritis and malaria. The medication, whose brand name is Plaquenil, is relatively safe, with the main side effect being stomach irritation, though it can cause echocardiogram and vision changes. In 2005, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed that chloroquine, an analogue, could block a virus from penetrating a cell if administered before exposure. If tissue had already been infected, the drug inhibited the virus.

Image Source

SOURCE: wsj.com