Study warns of harm from malaria drug

Malaria drugs pushed by President Trump as treatments for the coronavirus did not help and were tied to a greater risk of death and heart rhythm problems in a new study of nearly 100,000 patients around the world.

Friday’s report in the journal Lancet is not a rigorous test of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, but it is by far the largest look at their use in realworld settings, spanning 671 hospitals on six continents.

“Not only is there no benefit, but we saw a very consistent signal of harm,” said one study leader, Dr. Mandeep Mehra, a heart specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Researchers estimate that the death rate attributable to use of the drugs, with or without an antibiotic such as azithromycin, is roughly 13% versus 9% for patients not taking them. The risk of developing a serious heart rhythm problem is more than five times greater.

Even though it is only observational, the size and scope of the study gives it impact, said Dr. David Aronoff, infectious diseases chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“It really does give us some degree of confidence that we are unlikely to see major benefits from these drugs in the treatment of COVID19 and possibly harm,” said Aronoff, who was not involved in the research.

Trump repeatedly has pushed the malaria drugs, and has said he is taking hydroxychloroquine to try to prevent infection or minimize symptoms from the coronavirus.

The drugs are approved for treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and for preventing and treating malaria, but no large rigorous tests have found them safe or effective for preventing or treating COVID19.