[srvy]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

There was a study published to NEJM with data taken from Columbia Presb. in New York.

1376 patients were enrolled in an observational trial for the use of hydroxychloroquine. The patients started on it were sicker than average, but this was adjusted for in the statistical analysis. The study found that there was no benefit from hydroxychloroquine in reducing either time to intubation or death.

Clinical guidance at our medical center has been updated to remove the suggestion that patients with Covid-19 be treated with hydroxychloroquine. In our analysis involving a large sample of consecutive patients who had been hospitalized with Covid-19, hydroxychloroquine use was not associated with a significantly higher or lower risk of intubation or death (hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.32). The study results should not be taken to rule out either benefit or harm of hydroxychloroquine treatment, given the observational design and the 95% confidence interval, but the results do not support the use of hydroxychloroquine at present, outside randomized clinical trials testing its efficacy.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2012410

It's the biggest single study I've seen on hydroxychloroquine use thus far, and, although not randomized, with the weight of other evidence I would argue that this makes a fairly strong case for a lack of efficacy.

What will happen next is that the people who still support using this drug will claim that it needs to be given earlier in treatment and/or with azithromycin.