Hydroxychloroquine does not help COVID-19 patients, and indeed may increase deaths, according to a large, international study published Friday in The Lancet.
The research is the latest to show the drug — which President Donald Trump this week said he was taking as a preventive strategy — can lead to potentially deadly heart problems.
“We were unable to confirm a benefit of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, when used alone or with” an antibiotic, the study authors wrote. What’s more, the patients who got the drugs were more likely than the others to die in the hospital.
Trump sure does care about our vets!
The Department of Veterans Affairs has used hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus for approximately 1,300 veterans, according to a letter sent to the top Senate Democrat.
VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, in a letter and documents provided to Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), said the department had prescribed hydroxychloroquine to about 1,300 coronavirus patients of more than 10,000 veterans treated for the coronavirus “and will continue to do so in accordance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines.”
In addition to treating approximately 1,300 veterans with hydroxychloroquine for the coronavirus, the VA has also prescribed the medication to approximately 7,500 for non COVID-19 conditions since the start of the pandemic.
