So now that it is demonstrated there ARE risks from HCQ, let us ask ourselves if we accept the risk, does it actually work? It doesn't appear so! Now that half a million people have used HCQ to treat COVID-19, there are plenty of data for retrospect.

From Hennekens, et al in the January 2022 issue of The American Journal of Medicine:



"Hydroxychloroquine in Post-Exposure Prophylaxis
One randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial included 821 post-exposure prophylaxis subjects, of whom 107 developed COVID-19 over 14 days. The 49 of 414 (11.8%) assigned hydroxychloroquine and 58 of 407 (14.3%) given placebo resulted in a nonsignificant relative risk (RR) of 0.83 (P = .35). Overall, 140 of 349 (40.1%) assigned hydroxychloroquine reported a side effect by day 5, as compared with 50 of 352 (16.8%) assigned placebo, a highly significant increase (P < .001). Nausea, loose stools, and abdominal discomfort were the most common, and there were no serious intervention-related adverse effects.7

In another study, among 2314 healthy contacts of 672 COVID-19 index cases, 1116 were randomized to hydroxychloroquine and 1198 to usual care. COVID-19 occurred among 5.7% assigned to hydroxychloroquine and 6.2% to usual care, yielding a nonsignificant RR of 0.89 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54-1.46). Adverse events were significantly higher in hydroxychloroquine (51.6%) compared with usual care (5.9%), but there were no reported cardiac arrhythmias.8

In the most recently published trial, 671 households were randomly assigned: 337 (407 participants) to hydroxychloroquine and 334 (422 participants) to the control group. By day 14, there were 53 events in hydroxychloroquine and 45 among usual care, yielding a nonsignificant RR = 1.10 (95% CI, 0.73-1.66]; P > .20). The frequency of participants experiencing adverse events was significantly higher in the hydroxychloroquine group than the control group (66 [16.2%] vs 46 [10.9%]; P = .026).9"


But what about hospitalized patients--the sickest of the sick? It turns out no efficacy for treating them, either. In fact, a small increase in mortality exists:

"Our meta-analysis of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 yields a nonsignificant RR = 1.10 (95% CI, 0.99-1.23). In hospitalized patients, there is an approximate statistically nonsignificant estimated 10% increase in mortality, but with sufficient precision to rule out a reduction as small as 1%. Further, these data suggest equality, but the point estimate is in the direction of small harm on mortality."