Corona Desk

France’s drug safety agency has released data indicating that hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug Trump has pushed as a potential miracle drug for treating Covid-19, appears to have serious side effects on the heart when used for Covid-19 patients, and should be used under medical supervision. The report details 43 cases of “heart incidents” tied to hydroxychloroquine.

“This initial assessment shows that the risks, in particular cardiovascular, associated with these treatments are very present and potentially increased in COVID-19 patients. Almost all of the declarations come from health establishments,” the agency said, according to the Hill. “These drugs should only be used in hospitals, under close medical supervision.”

The report doesn’t offer definitive evidence on how safe it is to use hydroxychloroquine, but it underscores how dangerous it is for non-experts — such as the president — to enthusiastically tout it as a promising cure when there is not definitive evidence that it works or is safe to use.

Trump has encouraged the public to use it, albeit only with a doctor’s approval, in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin — asking “what do you have to lose?” at press conferences when discussing it as a treatment that he’s eager to get behind. But scientists and medical professionals have cautioned against viewing it as an effective treatment yet.

That’s in part because, as Vox’s Nicole Narea has reported, the drug has serious side effects, and its benefits for Covid-19 patients are not yet proven:

Scientists have known for decades that the drug carries adverse psychiatric side effects and can also cause deadly heart complications. Only clinical trials can clarify who would benefit and who would be at too big a risk.

Prescribing the drug now is “kind of a ‘last resort’ measure for those with severe disease,” Joshua Michaud, associate director for global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Vox, later adding: “I would be more concerned about having large numbers of people, including those without symptoms or only mild symptoms, taking this drug because of the risk of negative side effects and unclear benefits at this point.”

There are not yet any treatments clinically proven to work specifically against Covid-19. As agonizing as it is to wait during an economy-killing global pandemic, more research has to be conducted to settle on firmer answers.

Source: VOX