Trump Says He's Taking Hydroxychloroquine

He says 'a lot of good things have come out' about unproven drug
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 18, 2020 4:48 PM CDT
Trump Says He's Taking Hydroxychloroquine
President Trump tells reporters that he is taking zinc and hydroxychloroquine during a meeting with restaurant industry executives about the coronavirus response, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, May 18, 2020.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The FDA has warned against using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 outside clinical trials or hospitals—but President Trump remains so much of a fan that he's taking it despite not being infected. "A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. ... You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it,” he said at the White House Monday, per NBC. "I happen to be taking it," he said. "I'm taking hydroxychloroquine, right now." The FDA said last month that it had received "reports of serious heart rhythm problems" in people who took the drug, which Trump had been touting for weeks as a potential coronavirus treatment. Asked about potential side effects Monday, Trump said, "I'm still here."

Trump said he had been prescribed the anti-malaria drug by the White House doctor and had been taking it for around a week and a half. "You'd be surprised at how many people are taking, and especially the frontline workers before you catch it, the frontline workers, many, many are taking it," the president said. There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine protects against the coronavirus, but clinical trials are underway the BBC reports. A study of the drug's use in US veterans' hospitals found that virus patients given hydroxychloroquine were more likely to die than those who received standard care, but Trump said Monday that the researchers "aren't big Trump fans," the Guardian reports. (More President Trump stories.)

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