There are currently no FDA approved treatments for COVID-19, but there’s a growing number of people advocating for the expanded use of experimental treatments for the disease.
Congressman Ralph Abraham is one of those advocates. He says when a situation is serious enough, patients should be allowed to take off-label treatments.
“There are times when certain drugs need to be tried that have worked even anecdotally, give the patient the option, let them and their doctor make an informed decision,” says Abraham.
The President has touted what he says are good results from the use of an anti-malarial drug called Hydroxychloroquine. The treatment does not have FDA backing, but Abraham says he’s been in contact with doctors who back the drug’s use.
“I have talked to physicians in Seattle, New Orleans, and New York and we are seeing good results with this particular drug and others,” says Abraham.
Small scale studies of hydroxychloroquine on COVID-19 patients have yielded mixed results, and a Kaiser Family Foundation director labeled it a “drug of last resort”. Abraham says even though these experimental drugs don’t have FDA approval and may have side effects, some patients don’t have other options.
“That is the difference between academia and those of us on the frontline that are actually seeing that patient, listening to them, looking down their throat, and knowing what this patient is suffering with,” says Abraham.
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