Healthcare and Pharma
Reuters staff
(Reuters) – U.S. The malaria drug taken by President Donald Trump to prevent COVID-19 showed no benefit against placebo in reducing coronavirus infection in health care workers, according to the results of a clinical trial published Wednesday.
This study largely confirms the results of a clinical trial in June that showed that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective in preventing infection in people exposed to the new coronavirus.
Trump began supporting hydroxychloroquine early in the epidemic and told reporters in May that he began taking the drug after two White House staffers tested positive for COVID-19. The study found a drug to give little benefit as a treatment.
1 participants: In a study of participants, four who had taken hydroxychloroquine as a preventive treatment for eight weeks were infected with Covid-19, and four on placebo tested positive for the virus.
According to results published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal, eight people were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
Research shows that regular use of the drug in healthcare workers to prevent COVID-19 cannot be recommended, said researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.
The study authors said it was possible that trials conducted in a community with a broader prevalence of the disease could allow the drug to find greater benefits.
In a recent trial, which ended before reaching the 200 enrollment target, participants who took the malaria drug were more likely to have mild side effects such as diarrhea than placebo.
