Anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine championed by Donald Trump for coronavirus COVID-19 treatment fails another test, finds study

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A new study has revealed that anti-malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has failed another test to prove its efficiency in treating the coronavirus COVID-19, with infected patients showing no change in their conditions after being administered HCQ.

The observational study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The study found that the use of HCQ failed to reduce the need for patients requiring breathing assistance and it also has no effect on decreasing the risk of death. The NEJM study, however, showed that HCQ had no ptential harm too.  

The study said that HCQ was given to 1,376 coronavirus patienys admitted at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. “There was no significant association between hydroxychloroquine use and intubation or death,” the study concluded.

The findings of the NEJM study are significant because they come few days after the US Food and Drug Administration warned the public against using HCQ without prescription or supervision because of reports of “serious heart rhythm problems” in patients administered with this drug.

Notably, observational studies are not considered as conclusive as randomised-controlled trials because several drugs and therapies are often used by clinicians to treat patients. The NEJM study asserted that the effectiveness of the HCQ could only be established by igorous clinical trials. The study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

It may be recalled that US President Donald Trump had touted HCQ as a “game changer” in the fight against COVID-19 and several countries including the US had urged India to supply the anti-malarial drug in order to treat the highly conteagious disease. In India, HCQ is still being used at several hospitals as a treatment for coronavirus.

On April 9, President Trump had thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the export of hydroxychloroquine to the US. "Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you India and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten! Thank you PM Modi for your strong leadership in helping not just India, but humanity, in this fight!" he had tweeted.

The US is now pushing antiviral drug Remdesivir manufactured by Gilead Sciences to treat COVID-19 and Remdesivir has now become the first drug to get emergency use authorisation in the US for coronavirus treatment.