Chloroquine phosphate, an old drug for treatment of malaria, is shown to have apparent efficacy and acceptable safety against COVID-19 associated pneumonia in multicenter clinical trials conducted in China. The drug is recommended to be included in the next version of the Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Pneumonia Caused by COVID-19 issued by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China for treatment of COVID-19 infection in larger populations in the future
Chloroquine is a cheap and safe drug that has been used for more than 70 years. In light of the urgent clinical demand, chloroquine phosphate is recommended to treat COVID-19 associated pneumonia in larger populations in the future
*Address correspondence to: Jianjun Gao, Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bst/advpub/0/advpub_2020.01047/_pdf