The World Health Organization announced that testing of hydroxychloroquine in its large multi-country trial to treat COVID-19 patients had been halted after new data and studies showed no benefit of the drug.
It is revealed in multiple studies that the hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug which is also used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, has no impact on the COVID-19.
The WHO stated that recent studies “demonstrated that hydroxychloroquine does not result in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.”
Only one drug, remdesivir, has been shown in clinical trials that helped faster recovery of very sick patients in the hospital. Further, the research team at the University of Oxford in England reported that with dexamethasone, a commonly used steroid, COVID-19 patients on ventilators can survive the illness, though the data from that trial is not made public.
The WHO has enrolled 3,500 patients from 17 countries in its Solidarity Trial. This is an effort overseen by the organization for finding new treatments for COVID-19. The patients in the trial have been randomly assigned to be treated with hydroxychloroquine, or three other experimental drugs to treat COVID-19 in various combinations. Only the hydroxychloroquine part of the trial is being halted.
Hydroxychloroquine gained attention as a potential treatment for COVID-19 in February, when small studies suggested it might be useful against the virus. But further research concluded that it was not beneficial.
