The Past and Present of HCQ
Written by Gravitational Wave
It is probably the first time in modern history that a kind of medicine is stigmatized as a victim of politic game. Yes, you know what I am going to talk about, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). It is a long story. Please read it patiently, I believe you will come to your own judgment.
Antimalarials have been used as slow-acting drugs to treat rheumatism for more than a century. It originated from the bark of Cinchona tree in Peru. In 1820, two French pharmacists successfully extracted quinine, the earliest antimalarial drug in history, from the bark of cinchona. In 1894, a physician in London, England, used quinine to treat discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) for the first time and achieved remarkable results. This was the first time that scientists used antimalarials to treat immune diseases.
Chloroquine is a chemically synthesized antimalarial drug based on quinine. With the development of science, scientists have discovered that chloroquine has obvious toxic and side effects while exerting therapeutic effects.So, in 1944, scientists developed a new type of antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), based on chloroquine. The difference between it and chloroquine is that a hydroxyl group is added to chloroquine, which has similar therapeutic effects but significantly reduces side effects.
Since then, hydroxychloroquine has been widely used as an immunosuppressant in the treatment of rheumatic diseases. ······ [Read more] “The Past and Present of HCQ”