The World Health Organization has announced that it has decided to end clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for hospitalized Covid-19 patients on Wednesday, concluding that the antimalarial is not reducing their death rate.
"Internal evidence from the Solidarity / Discovery Trial, external evidence from the Recovery Trial, and combined evidence from these two largely randomized trials, taken together, suggests that hydroxychloroquine - when compared to treatments usual inpatients for Covid-19- does not result in reduced mortality in these patients", said Dr Ana Maria Henao Restrepo of WHO during a virtual press conference in Geneva.
The European study Discovery assesses the effectiveness of four treatments for Covid-19.
For Recovery, the first major clinical trial - carried out by the British University of Oxford - to have delivered results, hydroxychloroquine has "no beneficial effect" in terms of Covid-19.
"On the basis of these analyzes and the study of the evidence produced (...), after deliberation, it was concluded that the weapon of hydroxychloroquine will be withdrawn from the Solidarity Trial", said the doctor on Wednesday. Ana Maria Henao Restrepo. https://www.boursorama.com/actualite-ec ... a090d4f6fc
The US is embarrassed with the 66 million doses of hydroxychloroquine ordered by Trump, after FDA disapproval of the drug this week.British scientists have halted a massive study on hydroxychloroquine, calling the drug "useless" a treatment for COVID-19 patients. Co-leader of the trial, Martin Landray, urged others to test the antimalarial against the virus to follow suit.
The antimalarial won emergency clearance in March and was touted as a "game changer" by President Donald Trump before its effectiveness was criticized. Now, US officials are looking to companies that have donated the stock to "determine available options" for excess pills. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/cor ... collection
