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You are here: Home / Articles / Hydroxychloroquine Tied to Increased Risk of Death in COVID-19 Patients

Hydroxychloroquine Tied to Increased Risk of Death in COVID-19 Patients

May 26, 2020 • By Reuters Staff

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(Reuters)—Malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking, is tied to increased risk of death in COVID-19 patients, according to a study published in The Lancet.1

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The registry analysis, which included data from 671 hospitals in six continents and over 96,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, showed that people treated with the drug, or the closely related drug chloroquine, had higher risk of death when compared to those who had not been given the medicine.

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Demand for HCQ, a drug approved decades ago, surged after Trump touted its use as a coronavirus treatment in early April. Earlier this week, he surprised the world by admitting he was taking the pill as a preventive medicine.

The Lancet study authors suggest these treatment regimens should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials until results from clinical trials are available to confirm the safety and efficacy of these medications for COVID-19 patients.

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The authors write that they could not confirm if taking the drug resulted in any benefit in coronavirus patients.

Weeks ago, Trump had promoted the drug as a potential treatment based on a positive report about its use against the virus, but subsequent studies found that it was not helpful. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April issued a warning about its use.

The Lancet study looked at data from 14,888 patients who were given either HCQ or chloroquine, with or without a macrolide antibiotic such as azithromycin, and 81,144 patients who were not on these treatment regimens.

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Reference

  1. Mehra MR, Desai SS, Ruschitzka F, et al. Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: A multinational registry analysis. The Lancet. 2020 May 22.

Filed Under: Drug Updates Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, death, HCQ, Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)

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