What you need to know about hydroxychloroquine – WTSP.com

We are breaking down what we know about the drug and what it's being used to treat right now.

TAMPA, Fla. We've been talking about hydroxychloroquine for some time now. So we want to take a deeper dive and walk you through what we know about this drug right now.

Hydroxychloroquine is a drug primarily used to fight malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

In lab tests, it appears to block COVID-19 from invading cells.

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization at the end of March. That let's doctors use the drug to treat severely ill coronavirus patients. The agency has not, however, signed off on it as a safe or effective treatment for coronavirus patients.

In fact, just last month the FDA specifically warned against taking hydroxychloroquine "outside of a hospital setting or a clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems."

In April, the National Institutes of Health launched a study testing hydroxychloroquine versus a placebo drug in 500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Some early studies in China and France found the drug could help, but those studies ended up being flawed.

At the beginning of May, doctors at Tampa General Hospital began a study to see the drugs anti viral impacts on healthcare workers. Half were given hydroxychloroquine, half were given a placebo. The study will follow them to see who gets it.

We talked with the Managing Director of the Poison Center in Tampa.

Dr. Alfred Aleguas says he would not recommend taking hydroxychloroquine to minimize your chance of getting the virus.

"It might be something that if you are in good health and are working wit your doctor and have been exposed to someone, but I think that it would not be advisable to be something you would try on your own."

Aleguas also says there are potentially dangerous side effects of this drug, including the risks of cardiac abnormalities, it's known to disrupt your heart rhythm.

Doctors point out the decision to take any medication is personal. You have to have that conversation with your doctor to weigh the benefits and the risks.

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What you need to know about hydroxychloroquine - WTSP.com