---
title: "There’s No Good Evidence That Hydroxychloroquine Fights COVID-19"
description: "There's no good evidence suggesting that hydroxychloroquine helps fight COVID-19. But Trump, who invested in the drug's manufacturer, keeps pushing it."
date: "2020-04-07"
modified: "2020-04-07"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/no-evidence-hydroxychloroquine-fights-covid19"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
  - "Pathogens"
  - "Viruses"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
  - "hydroxychloroquine"
  - "medicine"
  - "trump"
---

# There’s No Good Evidence That Hydroxychloroquine Fights COVID-19

![There's no good evidence suggesting that hydroxychloroquine helps fight COVID-19. But Trump, who invested in the drug's manufacturer, keeps pushing it.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/no-evidence-hydroxychloroquine-fights-covid19.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Gage Skidmore/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

Even though there's no robust, convincing evidence to suggest that it does any good, President Trump continues to tout the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.

The evidence Trump cites is particularly flimsy, *[Vox ](<https://www.vox.com/2020/4/7/21209539/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-covid-19-clinical-trial>)*[reports](<https://www.vox.com/2020/4/7/21209539/coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-covid-19-clinical-trial>). There has yet to be a large enough randomized and double-blinded clinical trial for hydroxychloroquine to definitively conclude what impact the drug has on COVID-19 patients.

So why does Trump [keep pushing hydroxychloroquine](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/chloroquine-death-coronavirus>)? A generous interpretation would be that he's eager to find a solution to the pandemic. And because the drug is already FDA-approved to fight malaria and lupus, it's simpler to distribute it [via an emergency use authorization](<https://www.fda.gov/media/136538/download>) than it would be to get a new drug approved.

But *[The New York Times](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-malaria-drug.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage>)*[ reports](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-malaria-drug.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage>) that Trump and some of his associates have funds invested in Sanofi, which manufactures the name-brand version of hydroxychloroquine. That means that if drug sales go up, Trump personally stands to profit.

Trump has latched on to one [clinical trial](<https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Hydroxychloroquine_final_DOI_IJAA.pdf>) that suggested the drug could help. But the trial is so small and shoddy that it can't really be considered evidence, *[Stat News ](<https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/06/trump-hydroxychloroquine-fact-check/>)*[reports](<https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/06/trump-hydroxychloroquine-fact-check/>).

Meanwhile, *Vox* reports that [a smattering](<http://subject.med.wanfangdata.com.cn/UpLoad/Files/202003/43f8625d4dc74e42bbcf24795de1c77c.pdf>) of [other trials](<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0399077X20300858?via%3Dihub>), also all too small to be definitive, suggest that the drug is harmless to COVID-19 patients at best — and dangerous at worst.

"The data are really just, at best, suggestive," Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, [told *CBS* on Sunday](<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/full-transcript-of-face-the-nation-on-april-5-2020/>). "There have been cases that show there may be an effect, and there are others to show there's no effect. So I think, in terms of science, I don't think we could definitively say it works."

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)