The results of an eagerly anticipated randomized controlled trial indicate the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine was ineffective at preventing symptoms of COVID-19 in people after they were exposed to patients infected with the coronavirus.The results, which appeared yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, are the first from a large-scale controlled trial testing the efficacy of the drug against SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—to be published.
The findings showed that when given to participants within 4 days of close exposure to someone with confirmed COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine was no better than a placebo at preventing symptoms compatible with the novel coronavirus."This randomized trial did not demonstrate a