HealthDay Reports: Does Hydroxychloroquine — the Coronavirus Drug Touted by Trump — Work? New Trial Aims to Find Out
President Donald Trump has talked about hydroxychloroquine — a drug used to treat and prevent malaria — as a way to treat COVID-19, despite little evidence it can help.
Now, a new clinical trial aims to see just how effective it can be against coronavirus.
Does COVID-19 Drug Touted by Trump Really Work? New Trial Aims to Find Out
THURSDAY, April 9, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A clinical trial to assess the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for adults with COVID-19 is now underway, the U.S. National Institutes of Health said Thursday.
The drug, along with a similar medicine, chloroquine, has received much media attention after being repeatedly hyped by President Donald Trump as a "game changer" against COVID-19 in press briefings and cable news interviews.
"In France, they had a very good test," Trump said at one April 5 briefing.
The small French study he referred to involved just 20 patients. The trial suggested the drug might be effective against coronavirus when used with the antibiotic azithromycin.
However, on April 3, the medical society that published the French research in its journal issued a statement saying the study "does not meet the Society's expected standard."