For several weeks in March and April, the debate over hydroxychloroquine had the feel of something like a culture war. President Trump repeatedly talked it up in press briefings, a sentiment echoed frequently by allies of the president in media and his administration. The debate over the effectiveness of the antimalarial drug, which has received approval for off-label use, in treating coronavirus has even reportedly led to contentious arguments within the president's own task force.

But in recent days, multiple media outlets have noticed that both the president and Fox News have been mentioning hydroxychloroquine a lot less.

Politico reported earlier this week that both the president and Fox News have "subtly scaled down their hyping of hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure for the coronavirus." As Monday, Trump hadn't mentioned the drug in a briefing since April 14. He's mostly avoided mentioning the treatment on social media, as well.

Meanwhile, the Fox News hosts who have most often talked up the drug, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro, appeared to avoid talking about hydroxychloroquine for the entire previous week.

The Daily Beast also noticed this week that Fox News has significantly cut back on on-air mentions of the treatment, noting that the drug had been mentioned on Fox News and Fox Business 51 times in the week that began April 15, compared with nearly 200 mentions the week before.

CNN also noted that Fox News has "fallen out of love with hydroxychloroquine."

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a new preliminary study found that hydroxychloroquine "showed no benefit in a large analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals," and that there were more deaths among those who were given the drug than those who received standard care.

 The study, of 368 male veterans who were diagnosed with coronavirus at the Veterans Health Administration, was paid for with grants from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia, and published to the online platform medRxiv. It was not a large-scale drug trial, nor was it peer-reviewed, but was the largest study to date of the effectiveness of the treatment on coronavirus patients.

The president was asked about the study in his briefing Tuesday. In response, per The Daily Beast, the president replied that "I don’t know of the report… obviously there have been some very good reports and perhaps this one’s not a good report—but we’ll be looking at it.”

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. 

Image: Reuters.