The World Health Organization announced that they are temporarily suspending the global trials for hydroxychloroquine following the new study showing that it has a high mortality rate, according to a recently published article.

Pres. Donald Trump Touted and Used Hydroxychloroquine  

Pres. Donald Trump touted the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and claimed that it is potential to cure COVID-19. The drug is used to prevent or treat malaria that is caused by mosquito bites and is also used to treat certain auto-immune diseases according to WebMD.

Recently, Pres. Trump announced that he is taking the drug for one week and half despite the warnings from medical experts. He said: "I'm taking it - hydroxychloroquine. I think it's good. I've heard a lot of good stories. And, if it's not good, I'll tell you right, I'm not going to get hurt by it."

He also added that he consulted the White House Physician Dr. Sean Conley before taking the drugs. "After numerous discussions he and I had about regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks," Dr. Conley said.

Pres. Trump Said He is No Longer Taking the Drugs 

In a recently published article, Pres. Trump announced that he is no longer taking the drugs. This is after he was criticized for taking an unproven drug. During an interview with him Trump said: "Finished, just finished, and by the way, I'm still here."

Pres. Trump used the drugs for two weeks and despite reports about its high mortality rate, he said: "Well, I've heard tremendous reports about it. Frankly, I've heard tremendous reports. Many people think it saved their lives. Doctors come out with reports. You had a study in France, you had a study in Italy that were incredible studies."

Meanwhile, Trump clarified that the used the drugs for two weeks to prevent getting infected by the virus because White House workers had tested positive for the virus. 

Patients Treated With Hydroxychloroquine Show Higher Risk, Study Shows 

A recent study of The Lancet shows that patients taking the anti-malaria drug is not effective and causing a higher risk of death compared to those who are not taking it. According to the study, patients taking it were more likely to develop irregular heart rhythms. 

Out of 14,888 patients who were treated using the drugs either alone or with a combination of a macrolide between December 20 to April 14, 10,700 of which died at the hospital. It was found out that there was an increase of 37 percent of mortality for those who took the drugs and an increase of 137 percent of serious heart arrhythmia.

Moreover, the results of the research were published just days after Trump announced that he has been taking anti-malaria drugs for one week and half to prevent getting infected by the virus.

WHO Halts Global Trial of Hydroxychloroquine

The World Health Organization announced that they are temporarily suspending the global trials of the anti-malaria drug following the result of the new study that patients taking the drugs are showing a higher risk of mortality rate.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday, "The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board."

The decision was made to give time to the organization's experts to review the safety of the patients taking the anti-malaria drug based on the available data and evidence. 

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO's emergency chief, also said: "We're just acting on an abundance of caution based on the recent results of all the studies to ensure that we can continue safely with that arm of the trial." Meanwhile, he also claimed that there was no indication of any safety problems with the anti-malaria drug in the WHO trial to date.  

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