• Andrea Cortegiani, Giulia Ingoglia, Mariachiara Ippolito, Antonino Giarratano, and Sharon Einav.
• Department of Surgical, Oncological and Oral Science (Di.Chir.On.S.), Section of Anaesthesia, Analgesia, Intensive Care and Emergency, Policlinico Paolo Giaccone, University of Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: andrea.cortegiani@unipa.it.
• J Crit Care. 2020 Jun 1; 57: 279283279-283.

PurposeCOVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is a public health emergency of international concern. As of this time, there is no known effective pharmaceutical treatment, although it is much needed for patient contracting the severe form of the disease. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the evidence regarding chloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, and three trial Registries were searched for studies on the use of chloroquine in patients with COVID-19.ResultsWe included six articles (one narrative letter, one in-vitro study, one editorial, expert consensus paper, two national guideline documents) and 23 ongoing clinical trials in China. Chloroquine seems to be effective in limiting the replication of SARS-CoV-2 (virus causing COVID-19) in vitro.ConclusionsThere is rationale, pre-clinical evidence of effectiveness and evidence of safety from long-time clinical use for other indications to justify clinical research on chloroquine in patients with COVID-19. However, clinical use should either adhere to the Monitored Emergency Use of Unregistered Interventions (MEURI) framework or be ethically approved as a trial as stated by the World Health Organization. Safety data and data from high-quality clinical trials are urgently needed.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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