Jump to content

Drug touted by Trump to treat COVID-19 linked to higher death risk - study


rooster59

Recommended Posts

Drug touted by Trump to treat COVID-19 linked to higher death risk - study

By Michael Erman and Ankur Banerjee

 

2020-05-22T133850Z_1_LYNXMPEG4L1BR_RTROPTP_4_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-BELGIUM-HOSPITAL.JPG

FILE PHOTO: A pharmacy worker shows pills of hydroxychloroquine used to treat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the CHR Centre Hospitalier Regional de la Citadelle Hospital in Liege, Belgium, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman

 

(Reuters) - The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking and has urged others to use, was tied to an increased risk of death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a large study published on Friday showed.

 

In the study https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/article/s0140673620311806 that looked at more than 96,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, those treated with hydroxychloroquine or the related chloroquine had higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems than patients who were not given the medicines.

 

The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed no benefit for coronavirus patients taking the drugs.

 

Demand for the decades-old hydroxychloroquine has surged as Trump repeatedly promoted its use against the coronavirus, urging people to try it. "What have you got to lose?" he asked.

 

Trump said this week he has been taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative medicine despite a lack of scientific evidence.

 

The Lancet study authors suggested that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials until studies confirm their safety and efficacy in such patients.

 

There is a frantic search for drugs to treat COVID-19 at the same time that multiple research teams pursue a safe and effective vaccine to combat a pathogen that has killed more than 335,000 people worldwide and sickened millions more.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed healthcare providers to use the drugs for COVID-19 through an emergency-use authorization, but has not approved them to treat it.

 

Dr. Mandeep Mehra, one of the study's authors, said the research shows that the FDA should withdraw that authorization.

 

"That will help move this towards more, stronger evidence because it will then force the use of these drugs only in the setting of control trials," Mehra said in an interview. "That would be an extremely wise decision."

 

The FDA has said that, for safety reasons, hydroxychloroquine should be used only for hospitalized COVID-19 patients or those in clinical trials. The drug has been tied to dangerous heart rhythm problems.

 

The Lancet study looked at data from 671 hospitals where 14,888 patients were given either hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, with or without an antibiotic, and 81,144 patients were not given such treatments.

 

Both drugs have shown evidence of effectiveness against the coronavirus in a laboratory setting, but studies in patients had proven inconclusive. Several small studies in Europe and China spurred interest in using hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19, but were criticized for lacking scientific rigor.

 

Several more recent studies have not shown the drug to be an effective COVID-19 treatment. Last week, two studies published in the medical journal BMJ showed that patients given hydroxychloroquine did not improve significantly over those who were not.

 

Hydroxychloroquine is used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis as well as malaria.

 

Hospitalized patients tend to have a more severe version of COVID-19. Some proponents of the drugs for COVID-19 argue that they may need to be administered at an earlier stage to be effective.

 

There are ongoing randomized, controlled clinical trials to study the drug's effectiveness in preventing infection by the coronavirus as well as treating mild to moderate COVID-19. Some of those may yield results within weeks.

 

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Bill Berkrot, Jonathan Oatis and Will Dunham)

 

reuters_logo.jpg

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-23
 
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

The BBC has an article that specifically states that your chances of dying are higher if you're given that drug.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52779309

I see the BBC is getting in on the anti-Trump agenda too. The drug been around for 65 years, when Trump was 8 years old. The BBC need a piece of him too. The article is not worth reading due to its obvious political bias. I don't read or view anything from CNN and some others, so I now have to add BBC to the list.

 

BBC should focus on their own domestic Covid-19 disaster - currently the worst in the world.

Edited by tropo
  • Confused 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm pretty sure that if Trump was using a drug that did cure Corona it wouldn't be as well publicised as when he uses one that apparently doesn't.

If Trump could really cure Corona by miracles his detractors would say it was it was faked. Doesn't matter what he does; in the eyes of some he's always wrong, PERIOD.

Once again an argument based on something that hasn’t happened.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, tropo said:

Surprise, surprise... More crazy talk from Trump haters...

 

Do you think Trump woke up one day and decided hydroxychloroquine would help people with covid-19 infections.

How do you actually know that he is taking it ?

 

Have you seen him drop some of these tablets, or could it be that he is using his words to get his guinea pigs to try it, if it doesn't work, well I am sure he will say, it works fine on him.

 

Just remember this guy knew what was coming around the corner when he said it was nothing more than a flu, then later he flipped and said, yeh, I knew it was bad, but I was just trying to be a cheerleader because I didn't want people to panic.

 

In my opinion, people look at leaders with the titles as President or Prime Ministers as some kind of saviours, personally, they are nothing more that real estate agents wearing suits, oh that's right Humpty Trumpty has a background in that doesn't he.

 

Everyone should do their own research, and think outside the square, especially doctors.

Edited by 4MyEgo
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, tropo said:

I see the BBC is getting in on the anti-Trump agenda too. The drug been around for 65 years, when Trump was 8 years old. The BBC need a piece of him too. The article is not worth reading due to its obvious political bias. I don't read or view anything from CNN and some others, so I now have to add BBC to the list.

 

BBC should focus on their own domestic Covid-19 disaster - currently the worst in the world.

You have identified something as anti Trump, but you’ve identified the wrong thing.

 

The bit that is ‘anti-Trump’ is the reporting of facts and truth.

 

Truth and facts are always going to be anti-Trump.

 

 

Edited by Chomper Higgot
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Please explain why they should not report on research that indicates a medicine that worldwide and in the UK many people are taking against an illness is not working against that illness but may be negative.

They should report on it. Nothing wrong with that. It's their obvious bias in the headline that is off putting. I won't read a report with such a headline. I hope you enjoyed it. This thread headline talks about a drug touted by Trump.... BBC took it a step further by calling it a "Trump Drug".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

You have identified something as anti Trump, but you’ve identified the wrong thing.

 

The bit that is ‘anti-Trump’ is the reporting of facts and truth.

 

Truth and facts are always going to be anti-Trump.

 

 

It depends on what truth and facts you are using to make your point... who's going to fact check the "facts"?... or if someone calls it the truth, it must be so? Everything that comes out of the mouth of a Democrat is suspect. They need to win - they are desperate - they have a very good incentive to lie about anything and everything.

Edited by tropo
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.





×
×
  • Create New...