Hydroxychloroquine increasingly linked to deaths

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Ariana Eunjung Cha and Laurie McGinley

President Trump told reporters Monday that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for about a week and a half to protect against coronavirus.

He has repeatedly pitched the drug as a safe and effective treatment, asking would-be patients “What the hell do you have to lose?”

Growing evidence shows that, for many, the answer is their lives.

Clinical trials, academic research and scientific analysis indicate that the danger of the Trump-backed drug is a significantly increased risk of death for certain patients. Evidence showing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating covid-19 has been scant. Those two developments pushed the Food and Drug Administration to warn against the use of hydroxychloroquine outside of a hospital setting last month, just weeks after it approved an emergency use authorization for the drug.

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