Study casts doubt on efficacy of malaria drug touted by Trump, Hasidic doctor

Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that some doctors are using to treat Covid-19. Image by Getty
An anti-malaria drug touted by both President Trump and a Hasidic doctor in upstate New York as an important tool in the fight against coronavirus was found in a new study to offer no benefit to hospitalized Covid-19 patients.
The study, with 368 patients, is the largest done so far on the drug, hydroxychloroquine. The study does not have the controls of a clinical drug test — it is based on medical records for veterans being treated for Covid-19 at U.S. veterans hospitals, the AP reported.
It found that 28% of veterans who were given hydroxychloroquine in addition to usual care died, as opposed to 11% of patients who received just usual care.
The protocol developed by the Hasidic doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, was different. He advocated using the drug early on in treating suspected Covid-19 patients in order to prevent the development of such severe symptoms that they needed to go to the hospital. Zelenko’s espousal of the drug received national attention and attracted interest from conservative media figures, as well as White House officials, which contributed to it being adopted in multiple states, even though it was still experimental.
Other doctors expressed interest in Zelenko’s drug regimen, which combines hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and a zinc supplement, or said they supported using the drug to treat Covid-19 patients because of the drug’s relatively mild side affects in most people.
Other recent, smaller studies studies, however, such as one from Brazil, were terminated after patients began developing heart issues, like arrhythmia, which are associated with the drug.
Zelenko has maintained that his regimen, when used on an outpatient basis, has reduced the number of hospitalizations in the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, N.Y., where he has hundreds of patients.
Yet doctors are still split on the merit of using the drug for patients who are not in critical condition.
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Opinion Is this new documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Think every Palestinian in Gaza is Hamas? This week’s protests prove you’re wrong
-
Opinion A Palestinian Oscar-winner’s arrest shocked the world. For these Jewish activists, it was terrifyingly normal
-
Opinion In the Trump administration and Israel, a grotesque display of virility coupled with a loss of humanity
-
Fast Forward Cornell’s new Jewish president says he is ‘very comfortable with where Cornell is currently’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.