Fact Check-Homemade hydroxychloroquine should not be used to treat COVID-19
Trump set off widespread interest in the medication
(Reuters) - Homemade hydroxychloroquine is not medically recommended as an alternative to the commercially produced malaria medication. In defiance of medical opinion, former president Donald Trump and others touted hydroxychloroquine as a possible cure for COVID-19.
A post encouraged social media users to add fruit and supplements to a crockpot to create hydroxychloroquine. The caption reads, in part, “The cure for everything !! This drink is about to blow up !! Big pharma don’t like this at all.”
As cases of COVID-19 rise in the United States in July, mostly among the unvaccinated, online searches of how to make hydroxychloroquine at home have increased, according to Google Trends data visible.
Trump set off widespread interest in the medication, usually used by those suffering from Lupus and Malaria, by pressing for its adoption as the drug of choice to cure COVID-19 in April 2020.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautions against using hydroxychloroquine for anything outside of its regular use (malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis) due to the risk of heart rhythm problems.
Guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) Myth buster page says “clinical trials confirm that hydroxychloroquine does not prevent illness or death from COVID-19.” The organization also said micronutrients and vitamins were good for immune system and health but said that there is no guidance “on the use of micronutrient supplements as a treatment of COVID-19.”
In an emailed statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for the National Institutes of Health said the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 is not recommended. The health organization cites a 2020 study where “hydroxychloroquine did not decrease 28-day mortality when compared to the usual standard of care.” Those who received the malarial drug also had a more extended hospital stay.
In June 2021, UK scientists published a study that found no benefit for COVID-19 patients from drugs such as antibiotic azithromycin and anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine.
More broadly, substituting medically recommended drugs for DIY equivalents is not advised.
In a June 2020 article published on Health.com, Bethanne Carpenter, PharmD, an infectious diseases pharmacy specialist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, advised against making any drug outside medical settings, saying, “a person would need specialized knowledge in organic and/or medicinal chemistry to understand how to create compounds”.
According to chemical biologist Stephen A Cochrane, hydroxychloroquine (often shortened to “HCQ”) is a man-made compound that cannot be made at home. On June 4, 2021, Reuters Fact-Check disproved claims regarding the ability to make the compound at home using fruit peel.
VERDICT
False. Attempting to make hydroxychloroquine is not recommended. Health agencies don’t advise using the anti-malarial drug outside of its intended use.
