**2.12 Hydroxychloroquine**

Hydroxychloroquine has been prescribed since decades in the prevention and treatment of malaria as well as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) like chronic inflammatory condition [82]. In SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it was suggested that hydroxychloroquine may have potential to treat covid-19 affected patients [83]. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted permission for emergency use of hydroxychloquine in the treatment of covid-19 patients during initial stage of pandemic [84]. Recently, many *in vitro* studies have been conducted and found that hydroxychloroquine possess inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 [85, 86]. Further, several studies have been published regarding the use of hydroxychloroquine in covid-19 but results are conflicting. One population based cohort study conducted by Rentsch and coworkers, [87] stated that there was no difference observed in mortality of covid-19 patients who had already received hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. Similarly, in an observational study in covid-19 hospitalized patients, hydroxychloroquine did not show any benefit over mortality reduction (**Figure 1**) [88].
