The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday revoked the emergency use authorization for malaria drugs as a treatment for COVID-19 amid growing evidence they don't work and could cause deadly side effects. U.S. President Donald Trump had championed the use of the drugs for COVID-19 and even said he had taken them himself. The move means that shipments of the drugs obtained by the federal government will no longer be distributed to state and local health authorities. The drugs are still available for alternate uses, so U.S. doctors could still prescribe them for COVID-19 — a practice known as off-label prescribing. On Thursday, a National Institutes of Health expert panel revised its guidelines to specifically recommend against the drug's use except in formal studies.

Source: CBC News June 15, 2020 16:04 UTC