Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that it’s “quite evident” that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective coronavirus treatment.
“The scientific data is really quite evident now about the lack of efficacy for it and even the possibility that… there’s the likelihood that under certain circumstances, might be rare, but you’d see it, adverse events,” Fauci told CNN Wednesday.
Fauci’s comment came after France’s Ministry of Solidarity and Health decided Wednesday to ban the use of hydroxychloroquine as a cure because it has been found not only to be an ineffective treatment but also to increase the risk of death.
“Whether in town or in hospital, this molecule should not be prescribed for Covid-19 patients,” the health ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
French health officials cited a massive study published in the medical journal the Lancet last week that concluded patients on hydroxychloroquine had a 34% increased risk of dying and a 137% increased risk of life-threatening heart arrhythmia. Patients taking hydroxychloroquine, or its relative chloroquine, in combination with antibiotics, had even higher risks of experiencing fatal side effects.
Fauci said there has been “suspicion” that the negative side effects outweigh the possibility that the anti-malaria drug could treat coronavirus disease, “but as data comes in, it becomes more clear.”
President Trump revealed last week that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic for a “couple of weeks,” despite strong evidence that the drug does not work as a therapeutic. At least 10 studies of hydroxychloroquine have found little to no evidence that the drug can treat the virus.
