Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn is calling for clinical trials of a malaria and lupus drug touted for weeks by President Donald Trump as a possible cure for coronavirus. Cornyn’s comments are in response to a study that found the use of hydroxychloroquine more than doubles the death rate of COVID-19 patients. There have been no valid studies that show the drug is effective in helping patients suffering from the virus that has killed 176,910 people around the world, including more than 45,000 across the U.S.
“How about real clinical trials?” Cornyn tweeted, quoting an AP report stating the study “was not a rigorous experiment, but it is “the largest look so far of hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin for COVID-19.” Given this and other studies clinical trials would likely lead to increased deaths.
A study of chloroquine in Brazil was stopped after patients suffered heart problems. A French study found hydroxychloroquine offered no benefits.
Earlier in the day Cornyn tweeted about a separate study he said that “showed that 9 of 10 patients had an underlying medical condition.”
His remarks were not met with praise.
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