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Peter R. Breggin, MD and Ginger Breggin

May 21, 2020

Amid the fears generated by COVID-19 and a too-often fear-mongering media, it is important to have solid information about potential treatments. Because political attacks have been mounted against hydroxychloroquine, we have been writing about its great safety record and potential benefits. Now we want to alert you to two new positive studies.

A retrospective detailed study from China has found that low-dose oral hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) “was associated significantly with the reduced fatality of critically ill patients with COVID-19.” Laboratory data also showed that the medication “greatly lowered the levels of IL-6, one of the most inflammatory cytokines.” The dose of 200 mgs twice per day for 7–10 days was indeed low and well-within the range at which it has proven extremely safe for more than half a century.

The scientists concluded, “HCQ treatment significantly reduced the fatality of critically ill COVID-19 patients” compared to patients who were not treated with the medication. They summarized:

In summary, this retrospective study demonstrates that HCQ significantly reduces death risk of critically ill COVID19 patients without apparent toxicity, and its mechanism of action is likely mediated through its inhibition of inflammatory cytokines on top of its ability in inhibiting viral replication.

The authors believe that their study is strong enough to recommend its use “to save lives” in seriously ill patients. They also recommended its use as “an option for a patients at an early stage considering its safety records and the long history of its use in treating malaria infections.”

A second positive retrospective study has now come from South Korea. The authors found that “HQ with antibiotics was associated with better clinical outcomes in terms of viral clearance, hospital stay, and cough symptom resolution” compared to another antiviral drug or to “conservative treatment.”

Like the Chinese study, hydroxychloroquine did not result in any deaths or other serious adverse events, further adding to its remarkable safety profile.

Paolo Zanotto, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, has published 207 scientific articles, mostly in the field if virology. He recently compiled a list of 50 published articles about hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine that relate positively to the use of these drugs in pneumonia, viral illnesses in general, and to the treatment of COVID-19, including studies of the drugs’ mechanisms of action. 

Do not wait to hear the results of proposed NIH controlled clinical trials for hydroxychloroquine. They will be “controlled” only in the sense that Anthony Fauci will control and manipulate them to conform with his wishes. Fauci, the Director of the NIH Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases behaved fraudulently in planning and promoting recent clinical trials for remdesivir, a dangerous and ineffective drug which he desperately tried to make look good. We have described his unethical and dangerous actions in considerable detail. Fauci cannot be trusted to do an honest job evaluating hydroxychloroquine, a drug he has actively tried to discredit.

It is time for people to stop railing against President Trump for taking and promoting hydroxychloroquine. National media figures have recently accused Trump of killing people by recommending the drug. In reality, the people who are attacking the use of hydroxychloroquine—a tried-and-true antiviral agent with an extraordinary safety record—are the ones who are endangering untold millions of lives. We must stop listening to Anthony Fauci, who wants our nation to stay shutdown waiting for a miracle drug or vaccine, while he opposes an extremely safe and significantly effective drug, hydroxychloroquine.

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