France Bans Hydroxychloroquine For Treating COVID-19 Patients

A bottle and pills of Hydroxychloroquine sit on a counter at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20, 2020. - US President Donald Trump announced May 18 he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for almost two wee... A bottle and pills of Hydroxychloroquine sit on a counter at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20, 2020. - US President Donald Trump announced May 18 he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for almost two weeks as a preventative measure against COVID-19. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP) (Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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PARIS — The French government has stopped the use of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19 patients after a study suggested it doesn’t work and poses health risks.

A decree ending its use for the coronavirus in France was published Wednesday.

The World Health Organization did the same after a study of 100,000 patients worldwide published last week found the drug was ineffective against the virus and tied to a greater risk of death and heart rhythm problems.

The drug has been popular and politically sensitive in France, where it was included in a trial of multiple treatments and used on hospitalized patients.

U.S. President Donald Trump pushed hydroxychloroquine based on early research by prominent French virologist Dr. Didier Raoult suggesting it reduced virus symptoms.

Raoult shrugged off guidance from France’s High Council for Public Health to stop use of the drug, suggesting it’s not important now that the number of infected people is no longer at crisis levels. The council’s recommendation is “one opinion like any other, I don’t care much,” he told France’s LCI television Tuesday night.

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  1. France must have looked at what they had to lose.

  2. Bistro Night!!! My favorite country does it again. Steak au Po, Duchess potatoes and pan steamed asparagus. Probably something nice and red from Provence to drink.

  3. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    strong move …an emphatic “guidance”
    not sure about how “enforceable” it is in France.
    Would be difficult to do here - since the drug is still on the market - it is "legally " available and “off lable use” is not illegal.
    Nonetheless … this may finally put a damper on Dr. Donnie’s medical advice sessions.

  4. A nation of cheese eating surrender monkeys. -John Miller

  5. “The council’s recommendation is “one opinion like any other, I don’t care much,””

    These are not the words of a physician, let alone a researcher, who should care about the search for truth. Since he sounds like a duck, must indeed be a quack.

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