A drug infamously touted by Donald Trump has been linked to nearly 17,000 Covid deaths in a new scientific study.

Researchers say that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was prescribed to patients during the first wave of Covid-19 “despite the absence of evidence documenting its clinical benefits.”

The French study estimated that 16,990 patients in the US, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Turkey may have died as a result of the drug.

The study has been published in the February issue of Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.

Researchers say the data used comes from a study published in the Nature scientific journal, which reported that there was an 11 per cent increase in mortality rate linked to the drug’s prescription.

  • recapitated@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    17,000 dingdongs dying from self prescribing out of ignorance and ego is honestly not that big of a number, globally.It’s definitely more people than I could kill by speaking. I imagine the same ones would have found a different dumb way to go.