3 ms·

So a US doctor doesn't need FDA approval to be able to prescribe something like chloroquine or Remdesivir for a COVID19 patient as long as they believe it'll be

• zerkten 7y ago
  Yes, but in practice it is rarely the situation where a doctor is making this call on their own. The hierarchy from doctor to senior leadership should be involved in decisions like this because there are many more ramifications than just one patient. From the doctor's perspective, at minimum this is a cover-your-ass move because they don't want to get blamed for an adverse event. The administration needs to manage the risk too, and find other experts to review the situation. They may also need to manage supplies, or costs. This is really no different from the usual medical bureaucracy in the US. One item that I'll end with is that approval processes (FDA, EU, etc.) provide no guarantees. There are many drugs that have been approved and then removed from general use based on additional experience, or long-term clinical trials. It's obviously good to do more trials and get approvals, but patients and doctors really want the best possible outcome given the situation.