The controversial drug was strongly promoted by the Trump administration.
A World Health Organization panel is now discouraging the use of hydroxychloroquine, the controversial drug heavily promoted by the Trump administration, to treat patients infected with COVID-19.
The international health agency announced on Monday that a panel of experts from its guidelines development group now “strongly advises” against the use of the anti-inflammatory drug, often used to treat and prevent malaria, to prevent the new coronavirus.
The drug is no longer a research priority, and instead, resources must focus on other “more promising” drugs to prevent COVID-19, according to the press release.
“Evidence of high certainty” showed that hydroxychloroquine “had no significant effect” on deaths or hospitalizations in hospitals, while “evidence of moderate certainty” showed that hydroxychloroquine likely increases the risk of adverse effects, according to the WHO.
The guideline applies to all individuals who do not have COVID-19, regardless of whether they have been exposed to someone infected.
New recommendations for other drugs will be added to the guideline as they become available, according to the WHO.
Hydroxychloroquine has been aggressively singled out by former President Donald Trump as a promising treatment for the virus, despite the lack of evidence. As early as March 2020, Trump declared the drug a “game changer” as the pandemic grew, while the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, considered it “ineffective” for coronavirus.