New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed on Thursday that preliminary results of a study show that, so far, hydroxychloroquine “didn’t really have much of an effect on the recovery rate” for COVID-19 patients.
“I think from the review that I heard basically it was not seen as a positive, not seen as a negative,” Cuomo acknowledged during the CNN coronavirus town hall.
The results of the study, which have not been peer-reviewed or published, according to CNN. Findings show that patients who took the drug—which has been touted and cheered on by the president—whether or not they took it with the antibiotic azithromycin, were no more likely to survive COVID-19 than those who did not.
“We don’t see a statistically significant difference between patients who took the drugs and those who did not,” David Holtgrave, the dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health, who authored the study, noted.
In the lab, hydroxychloroquine has shown some potential in combating the novel coronavirus, with doctors theorizing it could help with inflammation. Holtgrave hopes that the results could add to the general knowledge about the effects of these drugs against the virus, especially since some doctors have been using them already to help treat patients.
However, this is also just one study, and only the preliminary results of the study, which included about 600 patients at 22 hospitals in the greater New York City area.
The final results, to be released as early as next week, includes 1,200 patients and will show if participants who took drugs were more or less likely to need intensive care, if they were in the hospital longer or not, and the death rates of each group.
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