[Chloroquine for COVID-19: a hype or not?]

Abstract

In March the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, posted a Tweet about the possible effects of chloroquine for COVID-19. Celebrities and mainstream media joined the discussion and promoted (hydroxy-)chloroquine to a true hype and the miracle cure for COVID-19. Police surveillance was needed to protect the producer of chloroquine in the Netherlands. Was (hydroxy-)chloroquine just a hype? The first European study had many methodological issues, a misleading conclusion and was published without the peer review process. It took several weeks before better designed studies showed that (hydroxy-)chloroquine was not effective for COVID-19, after which the use of this medicine was no longer recommended. It is understandable that in a pandemic there is a high need for an effective cure, but physicians should have waited until effectiveness was demonstrated. In our opinion, the use of (hydroxy-)chloroquine for COVID-19 was indeed a hype.