Lancet
Study on Hydroxychloroquine Shows Trump 'As Usual, Is Dangerously Wrong'
A study published in a prestigious medical journal found that the anti-malarial drug
President Donald Trump claims he is currently taking—and has repeatedly
urged others to take—is
not effective for treating Covid-19 and could increase risk of heart problems
and death in coronavirus patients.
The study, published in The Lancet,
examined the medical records of 96,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients on six
continents and found that "drug regimens of chloroquine or
hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with a macrolide was associated with
an increased hazard for clinically significant occurrence of ventricular
arrhythmias and increased risk of in-hospital death with Covid-19."
Patients who were
given hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic, a combination Trump has touted, had a 45% increase in risk of death and a
411% increase in risk of heart arrhythmias, the study found.
Patients who received hydroxychloroquine
alone had a 34% increase in mortality risk and a 137% increase in risk of
irregular heartbeat.
The authors found
"no evidence" of benefits from hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19
patients—a result that is consistent with the findings of previous
studies on the drug,
which is most commonly used as a treatment for malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid
arthritis.
Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told the Washington Post that "it's one thing not to have benefit, but this shows distinct harm."
"If there was
ever hope for this drug, this is the death of it," said Topol.
Sen. Ed Markey
(D-Mass.) tweeted that "the science is clear and the president, as usual,
is dangerously wrong."
The new study comes
just days after Trump told reporters that he has been taking
hydroxychloroquine daily for over a week in an effort to prevent Covid-19
infection.
"I get a lot of
tremendously positive news on the hydroxy," Trump said Tuesday, "and,
you know, I say, hey... what do you have to lose?"
Trump has repeatedly
promoted the drug as a possible treatment for coronavirus despite warnings from
medical professionals that there is no evidence it is effective for Covid-19
patients. Retail sales of hydroxychloroquine reportedly
soared in March, the
month Trump called the drug a "game changer" for treating
coronavirus.
"There is no
evidence of benefit and there is evidence of harm," Dr. Rob Davidson, an
emergency care physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect
Medicare, said after the president claimed he's taking
the drug. "Trump is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands. Let’s
not add to that number."
On April 24, the Food
and Drug Administration cautioned
against the use of
hydroxychloroquine "outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial
due to risk of heart rhythm problems."
In a segment on NPR earlier this
week, medical researchers and others explored the politicization of drug treatments
as a sad development to emerge during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many placing
the blame squarely at the feet of a president who has sidelined experts while
injecting his own uninformed and often ridiculous claims into the national
conversation.
Dr. Davey Smith, head
of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California
San Diego School of Medicine, interviewed on the segment, said, "In
reality, the virus doesn't care about politics and science should also not care
about politics. I just want an answer one way or the other."