Mon May 11, 2020, 07:39 PM

Hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit against coronavirus in N.Y. study

Source: Politico

A decades-old malaria medicine touted by the president as a coronavirus treatment showed no benefit for thousands of patients hospitalized in New York.

There was also no noticeable advantage for patients that took the drug paired with the antibiotic azithromycin, according to hotly anticipated research published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

President Donald Trump had repeatedly championed hydroxychloroquine from the press briefing stage, saying it had “tremendous promise” and was safe because “it’s been used for a long time.”

Previous trials had suggested the drug can cause serious heart problems, especially when paired with azithromycin, and the latest study backed up those findings. Researchers said that patients receiving both drugs together were more likely to experience cardiac arrest than those who received one or neither of the therapies.

Didn't see that coming...

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9 replies	Author	Time	Post
Hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit against coronavirus in N.Y. study (Original post)	brooklynite	May 2020	OP
AND increased incidence of cardiac arrests after controlling for severity of illness, age and other	hlthe2b	May 2020	#1
The sad reality	zipplewrath	May 2020	#2
Where is the evidence it actually prevents covid?	LisaL	May 2020	#6
This article is a little dated now, but it has a decent summary of the human "studies" up to the	GumboYaYa	May 2020	#7
I don't believe it does	MosheFeingold	May 2020	#8
"What do You got to Lose", Right?	Cozmo	May 2020	#3
Well, your eyesight, for one thing	Warpy	May 2020	#4
trumpy wrong AGAIN!!	riversedge	May 2020	#5
OTOH, there's also this, so who knows...	thesquanderer	May 2020	#9

Response to brooklynite (Original post)

Mon May 11, 2020, 07:41 PM

hlthe2b (84,060 posts)

1. AND increased incidence of cardiac arrests after controlling for severity of illness, age and other

confounding factors.

This was observational only, but it surely sends a strong message to those pushing bullshit anecdotal series data as justification for unquestioned use of these drugs.

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Response to brooklynite (Original post)

Mon May 11, 2020, 07:44 PM

zipplewrath (15,759 posts)

2. The sad reality

It's sad, but its only use might be as a preventative, not as a treatment. But because of the absurd intervention of politics, that aspect may never be investigated. This may be a blood disease that could be treated in advance through various blood medicines, even some like aspirin.

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Response to zipplewrath (Reply #2)

Tue May 12, 2020, 07:59 AM

LisaL (39,692 posts)

6. Where is the evidence it actually prevents covid?

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Response to LisaL (Reply #6)

Tue May 12, 2020, 08:54 AM

GumboYaYa (5,749 posts)

7. This article is a little dated now, but it has a decent summary of the human "studies" up to the

up to the date of the article. https://www.goodrx.com/blog/coronavirus-medicine-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-as-covid19-treatment/

The data has been inconsistent. But there also are in vitro studies that show that the drugs can prevent replication of the SARS virus.

Based on everything I have seen on this, I think the timing of when we give certain drugs impacts results. I agree that we need more studies on earlier use of hydroxycholorquin. That was protocol in South Korea and they reported good results.

I also agree that the issue has been overpoliticized because of Trump. Recommending and determining which drugs to use and how to use them should be left to medical professionals.

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Response to LisaL (Reply #6)

Tue May 12, 2020, 09:24 AM

MosheFeingold (3,030 posts)

8. I don't believe it does

Nor is it particularly useful once people are hospitalized (which is what this study was about).

HCQ does have a marked effect in the early stages of the disease, as it prevents damage to hemoglobin and also ameliorates some of the harm to blood vessels and tissue when the iron is released into the blood from damaged cells. Essentially, HCQ buys time for people to mount their own defense.

Not exactly a "silver bullet", but certainly not anything to dismiss.

The Trump/Media pissing match was not a useful thing.

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Response to brooklynite (Original post)

Mon May 11, 2020, 08:03 PM

Cozmo (554 posts)

3. "What do You got to Lose", Right?

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Response to Cozmo (Reply #3)

Tue May 12, 2020, 01:05 AM

Warpy (99,456 posts)

4. Well, your eyesight, for one thing

It's rare, but a well known side effect that can appear a few years after the drug is discontinued.

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Response to brooklynite (Original post)

Tue May 12, 2020, 06:31 AM

riversedge (60,035 posts)

5. trumpy wrong AGAIN!!

Trump had repeatedly championed hydroxychloroquine from the press briefing stage, saying it had “tremendous promise” and was safe because “it’s been used for a long time.”

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Response to brooklynite (Original post)

Wed May 13, 2020, 10:06 AM

thesquanderer (10,861 posts)

9. OTOH, there's also this, so who knows...

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/05/12/nyu-study-looks-at-hydroxychloroquine-zinc-azithromycin-combo-on-decreasing-covid-19-deaths

Researchers at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine found patients given the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine along with zinc sulphate and the antibiotic azithromycin were 44 percent less likely to die from the coronavirus.
...
The study looked at the records of 932 COVID-19 patients treated at local hospitals with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. More than 400 of them were also given 100 milligrams of zinc daily. Researchers said the patients given zinc were one and a half times more likely to recover, decreasing their need for intensive care.
...
Dr. Rahimian says patients in the more critical stages of infection did not fare as well. And he cautioned that more research is needed - in particular a randomized controlled trial - to prove how and how well the drug combination works.

Meanwhile, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday found that treating patients only with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, or both did not reduce hospital deaths. The study by the State Health Department and the SUNY Albany School of Public Health involved 1,500 patients.

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