Malaria drug Trump used to prevent Covid-19 found ineffective in major test

Hydroxychloroquine did not seem to cause serious harm but was no better than placebo pills, says medical journal.

A malaria drug US President Donald Trump took to try to prevent Covid-19 proved ineffective for that in the first large, high-quality study to test it in people in close contact with someone with the disease.Results published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine show that hydroxychloroquine was no better than placebo pills at preventing illness from the coronavirus.

The drug did not seem to cause serious harm, though—about 40 per cent on it had side effects, mostly mild stomach problems. “We were disappointed. We would have liked for this to work,” said the study leader Dr David Boulware, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota. “But our objective was to answer the question and to conduct a high-quality study, because the evidence on the drug so far has been inconclusive,” he said.

Trump’s promotion

Hydroxychloroquine and a similar drug, chloroquine, have been the subject of much debate since Trump started promoting them in March. Hydroxychloroquine has long been used for malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but no large studies have shown it or chloroquine to be safe or effective for much sicker patients with coronavirus, and some studies have suggested the drugs may do harm.

Trump took a two-week course of hydroxychloroquine, along with zinc and Vitamin D, after two staffers tested positive for Covid-19, and had no ill effects, according to results of his latest physical released by his doctor Wednesday…

I am doing fine after taking a two-week course of hydroxychloroquine: Trump

Trump has spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential treatment or prophylaxis for Covid-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration’s top medical professionals

President Donald Trump says he’s doing fine after taking a two-week course of an unproven malaria drug for Covid-19. Trump was addressing his disclosure last week that he was taking hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement. He said the regimen was meant to help prevent infection after two White House staffers tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump has spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential treatment or prophylaxis for Covid-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration’s top medical professionals.Trump was addressing his disclosure last week that he was taking hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement. He said the regimen was meant to help prevent infection after two White House staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump has spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential treatment or prophylaxis for Covid-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration’s top medical professionals.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: India cases at 138,845; Global tally crosses 5.5-mn mark

Speaking in an interview aired on the Sunday news program Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, Trump said that “I just finished the course of drug treatments and to the best of my knowledge, here I am. If it’s something that helps, that’s all I want.”

Only 6.39% Covid-19 cases needed hospital support; recovery rate now at 40%

Total count at 1,06,750, of which 61,149 are active. Some 6.9% of those under treatment are critical; death toll at 3,303

India saw a record jump of more than 5,600 Covid-19 cases in a single day, taking the total confirmed cases to 106,750, even as nearly 40 per cent of the total patients were reported as ‘cured’ by the health ministry on Wednesday. There are 61,149 active cases in India, of which 6.9 per cent require oxygen, ventilator support or intensive care unit treatment, while 42,297 have been cured. India had witnessed 3,303 Covid-19 deaths till Wednesday morning.

The Indian Council of Medical Research is also reviewing the use of antimalarial drug HCQ (hydroxychloroquine) as a prophylactic by health workers and those in close contact with affected cases.On whether the use of the drug would be dropped after concerns were raised around its effectiveness and safety, Raman R Gangakhedkar, head, epidemiology and communicable diseases division, ICMR, said, “We are gathering evidence, based on which a decision will be taken.”

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra reports 2,000-plus cases for 4th straight day

The total number of tests conducted in the country has crossed 2.5 million, with more than 100,000 tests being conducted in the last two days, revealed ICMR data. Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry, said India has fared better, compared to the top 10 countries with maximum Covid-19 cases in terms of total incidence and fatalities…Read More

Plan to use HCQ for Covid-19 treatment receives setback after death reports

Trump administration has stockpiled more than 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, a large chuunk of which has been imported from India

The plan to use much touted anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treating Covid-19 patients has received a setback with more deaths being reported among those who were given the drug, according to a report. While another report suggested that there was insufficient clinical data to either recommend or oppose the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating those infected with the deadly virus.

President Donald Trump, who has been aggressively promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, said that he would look into the reports. His administration has stockpiled more than 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, a large chunk of which has been imported from India. “I don’t know of the report. Obviously, there have been some very good reports and perhaps this one’s not a good report. But we’ll be looking at it. We’ll have a comment on it at some point,” Trump told reporters during his daily White House news conference on coronavirus.

Trump was responding to a question on a study released by a group of scientists on use of hydroxychloroquine with or without antibiotic azithromycin for 368 Covid-19 patients. The unreviewed study submitted to New England Journal of Medicine for publication and posted online found no evidence that use of hydroxychloroquine, either with or without azithromycin, reduced the risk of mechanical ventilation in patients hospitalised with Covid-19…Read More

Covid-19: India partially lifts ban on export of paracetamol and HCQ

HCQ is the same drug that US President Donald Trump had sought from India and warned of retaliation if India did not supply the drug

With coronavirus (Covid-19) spreading at a rapid pace in the country and the neighbourhood, India has partially eased restrictions on export of paracetamol and Hydroxychloroquine. It has decided to licence paracetamol & Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in appropriate quantities to all our neighbouring countries who are dependent on India’s capabilities, the Ministry of External Affairs announced.

HCQ is the same drug that US President Donald Trump had sought from India and warned of retaliation if India did not supply the drug. MEA said, “We will also be supplying these essential drugs to some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic. We would, therefore, discourage any speculation in this regard or any attempts to politicise the matter”. “India has always maintained that the international community must display strong solidarity and cooperation. This approach also guided our evacuation of nationals of other countries,” Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said.

President Trump had called Prime Minister Modi, requesting him to supply the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that is being used to treat Covid-19 patients and as prophylactic by the frontline health care workers deployed in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Modi government had imposed a ban on export of the drug since the coronavirus outbreak hit India….Read More