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A surprising new study found the controversial antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine helped patients better survive in the hospital. But the findings, like the federal government's use of the drug itself, were disputed. A team at Henry Ford Health System in southeast Michigan said Thursday their study of 2,541 hospitalized patients found that those given hydroxychloroquine were much less likely to die. (Fox, Cane and Cohen, 7/3)

Researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit saw a "significant reduction" in mortality rates with patients who were hospitalized between March 10 and May 2 and treated with the drug compared to those who were not. Hydroxychloroquine has been a topic of controversy since President Trump touted its effectiveness as early as March. The president also said he had been taking the drug. "The results of this study demonstrate that in a strictly monitored protocol-driven in-hospital setting, treatment with hydroxychloroquine alone and hydroxychloroquine [and] azithromycin was associated with a significant reduction in mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19," researchers wrote in the study published July 1 in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. (Conklin, 7/3)

Early treatment with hydroxychloroquine cut the death rate significantly in certain sick patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — and without heart-related side effects, according to a new study published by Henry Ford Health System. The study, published Thursday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, is another curve in the continued research — and its sometimes conflicting results — into whether a drug that seemed promising at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic really works. (Erb and Wells, 7/3)

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Saturday it is halting its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and HIV treatment lopinavir-ritonavir in patients hospitalized with the coronavirus after results showed the drugs did not reduce mortality rates. “These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” the WHO said in a statement, referencing multicountry trials it is conducting. (Axelrod, 7/4)