The National Institutes of Health has halted its clinical trial of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine after finding that the treatment provides no benefit to COVID-19 patients.
The decision to end the trial comes after the Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency use of the drug on Monday and the World Health Organization dropped the drug from its global study on Wednesday.
“A data and safety monitoring board met late Friday and determined that while there was no harm, the study drug was very unlikely to be beneficial to hospitalized patients with COVID-19,” the NIH said in a statement on Saturday.
The FDA has also determined the drug is “unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19” and warned of side effects including serious heart rhythm problems.