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Anti-malarial treatment hailed by Trump has no benefit for coronavirus patients, French researchers find
- Study is the most comprehensive done on hydroxychloroquine treatment for Covid-19 patients
- As well as measuring drug efficacy, researchers found abnormal heartbeat among side effects
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An antimalarial drug touted as a potential treatment for coronavirus might have no benefit to patients at all, according to a new study by French scientists.
Researchers compared more than 180 patients – some receiving hydroxychloroquine treatment and others who were not treated with the drug – and found their outcomes were almost identical.
The research by doctors and scientists from 12 hospitals and public research institutes across France, is the most comprehensive study so far of the performance of the controversial drug in hospitals and involves the most Covid-19 patients.
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“These results do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalised for documented Sars-CoV-2-positive hypoxic pneumonia,” the authors said in a non-peer reviewed paper released by medRxiv.org on Tuesday.
Hydroxychloroquine was invented in 1945. It is a chemical compound derived from chloroquine, a drug used by troops to combat malaria in the Pacific jungles during World War II, with similar effect.
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