Trump’s Hydroxychloroquine For Covid-19 Cure: Indian Study Supports

Remember Hydroxychloroquine aka HCQ? HCQ is the malarial drug that was touted as a magical cure for Covid-19 and it was strongly endorsed by the former US President Donald Trump last year during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic across the globe. HCQ became very popular back then.

According to the reports, a latest study in India found the HCQ as an “effective” drug for Covid-19 cure. A prophylactic study published in the Journal of The Association of Physicians of India has corroborated the same.

As per the study, HCQ could “prevent” SARS-CoV-2 infection albeit in varying degrees depending on its dosing regimen. The study suggested that an highest prevention rate of 72 per cent was found among the Covid patients who were given hydroxychloroquine over six weeks or a longer duration.

The study said, “When adjusted for other risk factors, HCQ dose as per government recommendations, 2-3, 4-5, 6 or more weeks reduced the probability of Covid positivity by 34 per cent, 48 per cent and 72 per cent.”

The study was conducted during May-September last year when HCQ was still part of the Union health ministry’s recommendation in treatment protocol for Covid-19. The Union Health Ministry has recently dropped the hydroxychloroquine from Covid treatment protocol. This attracted criticism from the medical experts who pointed out a lack of study based evidence to recommend HCQ in Covid cases.

The ICMR guidelines (released on May 17) too prescribed the use of HCQ in mild Covid-19 cases whereas the Union Health Ministry’s report came on June 6th.