FDA OKs emergency authorization of drugs touted by Trump to fight coronavirus

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Coronavirus task force update

White House: President Trump and the coronavirus task force updates America.

Pharmaceutical companies throughout the world are working around the clock to develop effective coronavirus treatments or a vaccine with no clear breakthroughs.

President Trump has spoken out about the importance of trying new treatments in hopes that we can learn where there's room for optimism and where there is not. He has touted drugs used in malaria cases as a possible response to the coronavirus and now the Food and Drug Administration put in place an emergency use authorization to try these drugs despite clear evidence of their effectiveness.

Politico reported late Sunday that the drugs included hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.

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Chloroquine is a drug normally used to prevent or treat malaria caused by mosquito bites in countries where the disease is most common. It usually comes as a tablet that you can take by mouth.

As for the coronavirus, chloroquine and a similar drug, hydroxychloroquine, have shown encouraging signs in small, early tests against the virus, but they have yet to be studied during a controlled clinical trial.

Both are oral prescription drugs that have been used for the treatment of malaria and certain inflammatory conditions since the 1940s.

Politico, citing three officials, reported that the move would allow more manufacturers to produce the drugs.

“Let’s see how it works. It may. It may not,” Trump said at a press conference on Sunday, the report said.

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The U.S. currently has the most known coronavirus cases in the world. Johns Hopkins reported late Sunday that there were 721,000 cases worldwide and 142,000 cases in the U.S.

Fox News' David Aaro contributed to this report