Hydroxychloroquine in the management of critically ill patients with COVID-19: the need for an evidence base.

With the rapid spread of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), critical care physicians are seeing increasing numbers of patients with acute respiratory failure secondary to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and reporting mortality rates of 40–65% for those requiring mechanical ventilation1—strikingly higher than the mortality rates reported for the more typical acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with other diseases.2 The focus of therapeutic intervention has therefore been not only to reverse hypoxaemia and provide adequate organ support, but also to decrease viral load and thus limit disease severity.