Study finds no hydroxychloroquine effect on death, severe COVID-19

A large study on the use of the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized COVID-19 patients found that the drug had no impact on the risk of the most severe outcomes from the disease The observational study, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at data on nearly 1,400 patients treated for COVID-19 at a large hospital in New York City, more than half of whom received hydroxychloroquine. Analysis of patient outcomes showed that the risk of intubation or death was not significantly higher or lower among patients who received the drug than among those who did not. The authors of the study say the results should not be taken to rule out either benefit or harm from hydroxychloroquine, which is currently being used to treat thousands of COVID-19 patients. But, they add, the findings don’t support continued use of the drug in COVID-19 patients outside of clinical trials. “Clinical guidance at our medical center has been updated to remove the suggestion that patients with COVID-19 be treated with hydroxychloroquine,” they wrote