FILE PHOTO: Researcher Cody Hoffmann checks the results of an automated liquid handler as researchers begin a trial to see whether malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine can prevent or reduce the severity of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Craig Lassig/File Photo
(Reuters) - In the fight against COVID-19, the decades-old anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine has become a political football, with U.S. President Donald Trump personally taking it and hailing it as a "game changer," to the derision of critics.
Some studies already have been done on hydroxychloroquine and the closely related chloroquine, including one published on Friday showing a higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems for coronavirus patients who used them compared to those who did not. But doctors are waiting for the debate about the usefulness of these drugs for COVID-19 to be settled by gold-standard scientific trials, with some results due as soon as next week.
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