New York Health Dept. Study: Coronavirus patients treated with Hydroxychloroquine were NO more likely to survive the infection than those who didn't get the drug

Daily Mail ^ | 04/24/2020 | By NATALIE RAHHAL

[SeekAndFind]

Patients treated with hydroxychloroquine have no better chance of survival than those who don't receive the drug hailed by Trump as a 'game-changer', results of a New York state Health Department trial suggest.

'I think from the review that I heard basically it was not seen as a positive, not seen as a negative,' said Governor Andrew Cuomo during CNN's coronavirus town hall.

Ultimately, the study, conducted by SUNY at Albany, is intended to involved some 4,000 coronavirus patients, but the preliminary results are from a sample of 600 patients.

Survival rates were no better among the group treated with the experimental drug than among those who got the standard supportive care, including oxygen, IV fluids and, if necessary, mechanical ventilation.

On Friday, shortly after preliminary results were reported, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) formally warned against using the drug outside of hospitals due to the risk that it could cause heart arrhythmias.

It's a major blow to President Trump, who has sung the praises of the drug, as well as to the global search for an effective treatment for coronavirus.

More than 50,000 Americans have died of coronavirus, and 890,000 have been infected.

Officials and doctors alike have hoped that hydroxychloroquine, a drug developed nearly half a century ago to treat malaria, might improve coronavirus patients' odds by combating severe inflammation resulting from the viral infection.

In lab tests, the drug showed promise, appearing to quell the 'cytokine storm' of immune signalling cells that causes inflammation to run wild in the body, overwhelming the lungs.

Hydroxychloroquine interacts with the human immune response, making it useful in treating autoimmune diseases like lupus.

It was even added the official lists of treatments to try for doctors treating COVID-19 patients in China and South Korea,

[lepton]

I think it also depends on WHEN the drug is given

---

It has appeared that way in the majority of accounts, but the testing appears to be limited to those who are not in a position to benefit.