HealthDay Reports: Citing Lack of Benefit, NIH Halts Trial of Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19
Early in the novel coronavirus pandemic, Trump hailed the drug as a "game-changer" in preventing or treating COVID-19, but large trials quickly began to dispel any hopes it might do so.
Citing Lack of Benefit, NIH Halts Trial of Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19
MONDAY, June 22, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. National Institutes of Heath announced Saturday that it was stopping a clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine, a drug long supported by President Donald Trump as a possible panacea for COVID-19.
"A data and safety monitoring board met late Friday and determined that while there was no harm, the study drug was very unlikely to be beneficial to hospitalized patients with COVID-19," the NIH said in a news release.
As the agency noted, hydroxychloroquine is a malaria drug that does have antiviral activity. Early in the novel coronavirus pandemic, Trump hailed the drug as a "game-changer" in preventing or treating COVID-19, but large trials quickly began to dispel any hopes it might do so. Still, Trump told reporters that he actually took hydroxychloroquine for two weeks after White House staffers tested positive for coronavirus infection.