During another press conference to update Americans on the spreading Coronavirus disease, President Donald Trump announced that several existing drugs used to combat other diseases are showing to be effective against the COVID-19 virus.
One of those drugs, Chloroquine, is being tested against the COVID-19 virus.
The drug was first used in 1944 to treat the malaria virus, and the president said that it has shown “encouraging results” and “could be an absolute total game-changer.”
"If they work, your numbers are going to come down very rapidly," said Trump.
Chloroquine was used effectively to treat the deadly SARS virus.
"The way that it worked against SARS was by preventing of the attachment of the virus to the cells. Chloroquine interfered with the attachment to that receptor on the cell membrane surface," Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist and internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told ABC News. "So it’s disrupting a lock and key kind of mechanism of attachment."
Trump made the announcement alongside vice president Mike Pence at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
If Chloroquine is proved effective to fight the COVID-19 virus, the readily available drug would effectively by medical professionals more time to find a vaccine for the virus.
