Trump says he has finished drug regimen for virus
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he has finished taking his regimen of hydroxychloroquine, a controversial drug he has promoted as a treatment for the coronavirus despite warnings from his own U.S. Food and Drug Administration and medical professionals about its effectiveness and potentially dangerous side effects.
“Finished, just finished,” Trump said in an interview with Sinclair Broadcast’s program “Full Measure With Sharyl Attkisson,” which aired Sunday. “And by the way, I’m still here. To the best of my knowledge, here I am.”
The president has promoted hydroxychloroquine, an FDA-approved drug used to treat malaria as well as autoimmune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, as a “gamechanger.” There is little evidence that hydroxychloroquine has been effective to treat or prevent COVID-19.
The FDA has cautioned against the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, a related drug, for COVID-19 treatment outside of hospitals or clinical trials because of the risk of lifethreatening heart problems.
“Finished, just finished. And by the way, I’m still here. To the best of my knowledge, here I am.” President Donald Trump
Trump’s comments came as a new study showed COVID-19 patients who took hydroxychloroquine had a higher risk of death than those who were not given the drug. The study, published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet, also found that COVID-19 patients were more likely to develop serious heart arrhythmias if treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine.
Arrhythmias can lead to sudden cardiac death, according to researchers, but the report did not associate the study’s fatalities with adverse cardiac effects.
The study found a 34% increase in the risk of mortality and a 137% increase in the risk of serious heart arrhythmia for patients who were given hydroxychloroquine. Patients who received hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic, similar to the regimen Trump said he was taking, saw a 411% increase in the risk of serious heart arrhythmias.
Trump has repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine even as some of his own health experts have warned of its risks.
The president continued to defend the use of the drug on Sunday, telling Attkisson hydroxychloroquine had “rave reviews” and “many people think it saved their lives.”
“I believe in it enough that I took a program because I had two people in the White House that tested positive,” he said. “But hydroxy has had tremendous, if you look at it, tremendous, rave reviews.”