From the March 25, 2020, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Let's bring in Dr. Oz who joins us from his location. Dr. Oz, good news for you because you have been pushing for this. Now the FDA has approved off-label use of chloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19. This is what you were talking about a couple days ago on this show.

DR. MEHMET OZ: It was. And you know, in the beginning it was like looking for a needle in the haystack. Just trying to find evidence and Dr. Raoult as you pointed out did a wonderful job with his pilot study in France. He's a very famous infectious disease specialist around the world. But since then I’ve been getting other papers. I found one from China that reports clinical outcomes. So they took 20 patients and they realized that when they gave them this hydroxychloroquine as you mentioned, they got a significant improvement in the clinical course of the patient within two days, and then within five days, they get CAT scans of their lungs on these patients 19 out of 20 had improved chest images and 20th person got better later. So, we are finding more and more data that’s supportive. 

But I’ve got to say, you do have to do clinical trials. It has been authorized now, these clinical trials are starting to go. But it’s going to take a while to know. I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to ask Vice President Pence yesterday about the availability of these medications to doctors because physicians are clamoring for at least the opportunity to treat patients that have the desire. And he said he was pleased to say that the FDA was OK with this. And the FDA reinforced that later on. So, basically, although we are not supposed to use the drug always off-label, the FDA is saying this is an emergency, do what you need to do. We will do the clinical trial and figure out if it really works as well as everyone says. Work out the safety parameters and the like. And I'm thrilled.

They actually shipped the product to New York. It was hard to find it initially for the trial we were trying to do at Columbia. But the federal government has pushed product into New York City now. So, these trials will show us a lot of wisdom. And there are other ideas like the vitamin C that you’ve mentioned that are being experimented. But I have got to point out for everybody, this is very important: This is a prescription medication that doctors have to recommend to you and have to screen you for. Do not try to do it on your own. There’s a terrible report of a gentleman who used some aquarium cleanser product because it has a similar name, which of course it is not, and did a chemistry experiment in his body. That didn't turn out well. So let's be wise about this. And when I asked the vice president would he take it, he gave the best answer possible. He said, “I’d ask my doctor.” And I spoke to Dr. Colyer, the past governor of Kansas. He's actually using it in his clinical practice now. Basically said when you go to war, you use the army you have got. That's our approach.