Largest Study Yet Shows Hydroxychloroquine Ineffective Against COVID-19

Another study has shown that hydroxychloroquine isn't effective in fighting COVID-19, and in fact could cause cardiac arrest.

In the largest study to date looking at the drug President Trump touted as promising, researchers at the University of Albany looked at 1,438 New York City hospital patients with COVID-19 and found that the death rate for those taking hydroxychloroquine was similar to those who didn't take the drug.           

The death rate for those taking hydroxychloroquine plus the antibiotic azithromycin was also similar — and those patients were more than twice as likely to experience cardiac arrest, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medicine Association (JAMA).

The new study came on the heels of another published last week, which showed that hydroxychloroquine isn't effective against the virus.           

In April, the FDA and the European Medicines Agency put out warnings against using hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to fight COVID-19 (DID, April 27).

Several other trials of hydroxychloroquine’s usefulness in treating COVID-19 are ongoing, including a large multicenter trial in the U.S.           

Access the JAMA study here: bit.ly/2Lk8f8j. — Suz Redfearn