A study carried out by researchers in the US has found that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial President Trump has described as a ‘game changer’ in the fight against Covid-19, showed no benefit against the novel coronavirus and did not reduce the risk of mechanical ventilation.
Also, the trial over more than 300 patients at US Veterans Health Administration medical centres found that the drug was associated “with an increased overall mortality rate”; 27.8% of the 97 patients who received hydroxychloroquine died, compared to 11.8% of the 158 patients in the control group.
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The study is yet to be peer-reviewed, but the results have been submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia.
