Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug called 'game-changer' to cure coronavirus patients by the United States President Donald Trump, was said to be ineffective in doing its job. Health experts studied its effects on patients but turned out nothing significant changes happened to them. However, some scientists still think this is false. It may not cure COVID-19, but it can be used to prevent getting the virus, scientists said.
Don't throw anti-Malaria drug, you can still use it versus COVID-19
In a recent report from NBC News, teams at Duke University Medical Center, ProHEALTH and UnitedHealth Group, NYU Langone Health in New York, and Hackensack Meridian Health Corporation in New Jersey said that they still have hopes on hydroxychloroquine drug.
Experts from these agencies concluded that the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug may not really help infected COVID-19 patients, but it does not stop its purpose there. They explained that the drug may still help people from preventing to acquire Coronavirus.
"The main takeaway from this study is that hydroxychloroquine, as we suspected, is generally safe. Although the drug did not show a statistically significant benefit when people took it immediately after exposure, it may still have a benefit for prevention prior to exposure," says Dr. Adrian Hernandez, principal investigator of the HERO research program coordinated by the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Scientists found negative feedback on the anti-malaria drug
Last week, Tech Times reported that hydroxychloroquine was told to be non-beneficial for COVID-19 patients. A large study in the United Kingdom says that almost 26% of the time, this drug can't help against the virus. Worse, patients may even have negative effects during their induction.
This was supported by the New England Journal of Medicine that recently published the results of a University of Minnesota trial, having the same conclusions.
However, on Sunday, June 7, Dr. Bradley Connor, the lead investigator for The New York Center for Travel and Tropical Medicine's trial, claims Minnesota trial doesn't prove anything.
"Science is based on multiple studies. This doesn't change anything," said him. "I think this deserves further study given the preliminary data from Europe, and the in-vitro data would suggest that we need more information."
No one dies from using hydroxychloroquine
Contrary to some studies published, other experts also believe that the anti-malaria drug cannot kill a patient with its substance.
Dr. Daniel Griffin, chief of infectious disease for UnitedHealth Group and ProHEALTH New York, reiterated that no signs of deadly symptoms were seen on people tested with this drug.
"It wasn't so much that I was impressed by any early data," he said. "It was more that I realized that this was something that people were using. And it was really important to know whether or not it was safe and effective."
