With more and more deaths being reported across the world, anti-malaria drug named Hydroxychloroquine, took to headlines after US President Donald Trump called it a "game changer" against deadly COVID-19. After days of all the hype, a recent study states that, this drug is not effective against the virus.
As per news agency PTI report, the unreviewed study submitted to New England Journal of Medicine for publication, found no evidence that the use of hydroxychloroquine, reduced the risk of mechanical ventilation in patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
The scientists from the University of South Carolina in the US, analysed the associations between the use of drugs hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and corresponding clinical outcomes, where 368 patients were based on their exposure to the drugs alone. Also, the two primary outcomes noted in the study were death and the need for mechanical ventilation.
After a week long study, the scientists said there is no evidence that use of hydroxychloroquine can reduced the risk of mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19.
"Although ongoing randomized, controlled studies are expected to provide more informative evidence about hydroxychloroquine in the coming months, the outcomes observed in our study represent the best available data," the researchers wrote in the study.
"The findings from this retrospective study suggest caution in using hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized Covid-19 patients, particularly when not combined with azithromycin," the researchers concluded.
