<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>acallaghan</author><text>If it had any effect on covid-19, it&amp;#x27;d be very obvious by now. There isn&amp;#x27;t some massive conspiracy here, it just doesn&amp;#x27;t work. The reason trials have stopped is because France, Italy, Belgium &amp;amp; the UK have seen worse outcomes generally, directly because of it.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t get the &amp;#x27;it needs to be taken &lt;i&gt;before&lt;/i&gt; symptoms!&amp;#x27; argument - like we can possibly give a immunosuppressant with non-negligible side-effects (e.g. arrythmia) to billions of people with no scientific evidence of it working on covid &lt;i&gt;at all&lt;/i&gt;.</text><parent_chain><item><author>lbeltrame</author><text>A shame, since the Lancet paper has problems[1][2] in particular related to the baseline of the HCQ-treated vs non-HCQ treated patients. And by admission of the authors themselves, it is not a substitute of a RCT.&lt;p&gt;And this before the results of the Minnesota trial are out. At this point I hope those are negative, so that it does not show that countries are overreacting.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;hydroxychloroquine-update&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;hydroxychl...&lt;/a&gt; and related posts&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;StevePhillipsMD&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1263899569252896771&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;StevePhillipsMD&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;12638995692528967...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;PS: The title is misleading. The ban is on the use on severe diseases, not all of them, according to the text in the news.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>France, Italy, Belgium stop hydroxychloroquine use for Covid-19 on safety fears</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine/france-bans-hydroxychloroquine-to-treat-covid-19-amid-safety-concerns-idUSKBN233197</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>pen2l</author><text>Lancet isn&amp;#x27;t the only paper that has raised issues with HCQ treatment.&lt;p&gt;Sciencemag [1] has this to say:&lt;p&gt;However, both HCQ and AZ have potential cardiac toxicity (QT prolongation,
which can lead to fatal arrhythmia), and
HCQ additionally has the potential for
negative effects on the eye. Understanding
risk-benefit ratios is paramount if these
drugs are to become a standard of care for
COVID-19. Several post hoc analyses carried out in the United States and Europe
suggest modest benefit, at best, from HCQ
monotherapy for COVID-19 patients; one
large post hoc analysis among U.S. veterans
suggests that there is harm to patients from
HCQ. Given the mechanistic rationale but
lack of well-designed clinical studies and
potential for drug-induced toxicity, there is
a key need for controlled, randomized trials
to test the efficacy and safety of these drugs
for COVID-19 patients.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;science.sciencemag.org&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;sci&amp;#x2F;368&amp;#x2F;6493&amp;#x2F;829.full.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;science.sciencemag.org&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;sci&amp;#x2F;368&amp;#x2F;6493&amp;#x2F;829.full...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s a &amp;quot;shame&amp;quot; that some have decided to stop wtih HCQ when other viable treatments seem to have less concerning side-effects. Either way, we will know very soon with greater certainty as ongoing randomized trials finish up.</text><parent_chain><item><author>lbeltrame</author><text>A shame, since the Lancet paper has problems[1][2] in particular related to the baseline of the HCQ-treated vs non-HCQ treated patients. And by admission of the authors themselves, it is not a substitute of a RCT.&lt;p&gt;And this before the results of the Minnesota trial are out. At this point I hope those are negative, so that it does not show that countries are overreacting.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;hydroxychloroquine-update&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;hydroxychl...&lt;/a&gt; and related posts&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;StevePhillipsMD&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1263899569252896771&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;StevePhillipsMD&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;12638995692528967...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;PS: The title is misleading. The ban is on the use on severe diseases, not all of them, according to the text in the news.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>France, Italy, Belgium stop hydroxychloroquine use for Covid-19 on safety fears</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine/france-bans-hydroxychloroquine-to-treat-covid-19-amid-safety-concerns-idUSKBN233197</url></story>