Washington (AFP)
The administration of hydroxychloroquine, a drug against malaria, did not improve or significantly deteriorate the condition of seriously ill patients with coronavirus, according to a study published Thursday and carried out in New York hospitals.
"The risk of intubation or death was not significantly greater or less among patients who received hydroxychloroquine than among those who received nothing," said the study authors published in the New England Journal. of Medicine.
Funded by the American Institutes of Health (NIH), the observational study was conducted on Covid-19 patients admitted to the emergency departments of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
811 patients received two doses of 600 mg of hydroxychloroquine on the first day and then 400 mg daily for four days.
565 patients did not receive the drug.
The study "should not be used to rule out" the potential benefits or risks that treatment with hydroxychloroquine can bring, scientists say.
"However, our results do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine at the moment, apart from randomized clinical trials (distributing patients by lot, Editor's note) to demonstrate its effectiveness," they added.
Donald Trump has regularly advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for patients with coronavirus.
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have been used for years to treat malaria, certain autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Canadian and American health authorities warned, however, in late April against the use outside of supervised clinical trials of these two antimalarials to prevent infection or treat the new coronavirus.
The American Medicines Agency (FDA) also last week urgently authorized the use of the experimental antiviral remdesivir. A large American trial concluded that it shortened the recovery of the most severely Covid-19 patients by several days.
© 2020 AFP