Another doctor says hydroxychloroquine treatment working on coronavirus patients

Another doctor, this time from Los Angeles, is reporting success with a hydroxychloroquine and zinc cocktail treatment to patients with severe symptoms of coronavirus.

The treatment, which some doctors have called a "game changer," is still unproven as limited trials have seen some successes is France and in other countries.

The drug has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of malaria and arthritis, but has yet to be approved by the FDA for coronavirus. The FDA has, however, encouraged trials to begin for the drug.

According to Dr. Anthony Cardillo, hydroxychloroquine prescriptions have helped patients who have severe symptoms go "basically symptom-free" in "8 to 12 hours," he told Eyewitness News.

"So clinically I am seeing a resolution," he said of the drug.

Cardillo serves as CEO of Mend Urgent Care.

"We have to be cautious and mindful that we don't prescribe it for patients who have COVID who are well," Cardillo said. "It should be reserved for people who are really sick, in the hospital or at home very sick, who need that medication. Otherwise we're going to blow through our supply for patients that take it regularly for other disease processes."

The FDA has advised against taking chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine unless prescribed by a doctor.

An Arizona man died after consuming chloroquine phosphate while attempting to self-medicate. The drug was not the same kind as the one touted by US President Donald Trump, and was instead a form of koi pond cleaner.

A New York doctor, Zev Zelenko, has also made his limited trials' success known, and has been in contact with Trump's chief of staff, The Washington Post reports.