NEW YORK : Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug which US President Donald Trump called a "game changer" against COVID-19, is not effective against the disease, according to a study which raises concerns about the drug's widespread usage by many governments across the world in fighting the pandemic.
The yet to be peer-reviewed study, published in the preprint server medRxiv, made a retrospective analysis of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in all the Veterans Health Administration medical centers across the US.
The scientists, including those from the University of South Carolina in the US, analysed the associations between the use of drugs hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and corresponding clinical outcomes.