After the FDA revoked emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, Henry Ford Health System in Detroit filed for permission to keep using it. The agency denied the request this week, the Detroit Free Press reported.
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration informed us that it would not grant our request for an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine for a segment of COVID-19 patients meeting very specific criteria," Adnan Munkarah, MD, Henry Ford's executive vice president and chief clinical officer, told the Detroit Free Press.
The health system said it still plans to continue a study of hydroxychloroquine called the WHIP COVID-19 study, which is the first large-scale U.S. study to investigate whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent COVID-19 in 3,000 healthcare workers and first responders.
Henry Ford previously published a controversial study that suggested the drug, commonly used as an anti-malarial medication and for people with autoimmune diseases, cut the COVID-19 death rate in half. The study contradicted others that showed the drug didn't help COVID-19 patients and had serious side effects.