Trump’s favorite COVID-19 drug might actually increase risk of death
This isn't the final word on the drug, but it looks like another nail in the coffin. (Unsplash/)For weeks, hydroxychloroquine has been making headlines as a hotly contested therapy for treating patients with COVID-19. President Donald Trump publicly praised the antimalarial drug on numerous occasions, and on Monday he claimed he’d been taking it himself for the last week and a half. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned back in April that the medication could cause heart problems, and most experts agree that taking it as protection against COVID-19 is a bad idea.Now, there’s further evidence to the perils of using hydroxychloroquine and the related drug chloroquine. In the largest analysis to date, scientists found that in addition to showing no benefit to patients hospitalized for COVID-19, people who take the medications are at higher risk of suffering heart problems while hospitalized—and may even be more likely to...