Hydroxychloroquine isn’t the miracle COVID-19 treatment many hoped it would be

Friday, May 29, 2020 - 17:20 in Health & Medicine

In a large review in The Lancet, people who took hydroxychloroquine had a higher mortality rate than those with COVID-19 who didn’t take the medication. (Pixabay/)Hydroxychloroquine has had a bit of a notorious reputation since the drug was first proposed as a treatment for COVID-19. Without much experience to go on, researchers and doctors jumped into trials in the hopes that the medicine would be able to combat the novel virus, and politicians, including President Trump, publicly touted its potential benefits. Now, things seem to be turning in the opposite direction. This week, after growing concerns over the safety of the drug, France, Italy, and Belgium banned its use as a treatment for COVID-19 and the World Health Organization halted a large worldwide trial studying its effects on coronavirus patients. The decision to stop the trial came after a large study published last week in the journal The Lancet found...

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