GENEVA, May 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The World Health Organization said on
Monday it had temporarily suspended clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as a
potential treatment for coronavirus.
The decision came after a study published in The Lancet medical journal last
week suggested the drug could increase the risk of death among COVID-19
patients, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press
conference.
Tedros said the executive group of the so-called Solidarity Trial, in which
hundreds of hospitals across the world have enrolled patients to test several
possible treatments for the novel coronavirus, had suspended trials using that
drug as a precaution.
“The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the
hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the safety data is
reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board,” Tedros said.
“The other arms of the trial are continuing.”
Hydroxychloroquine is normally used to treat arthritis but public figures
including US President Donald Trump have backed the drug as a virus treatment,
prompting governments to bulk buy.
Trump said last week he was taking the drug as a preventative measure, but
in an interview aired on Sunday on Sinclair Broadcasting he said he had
completed his course.
“Finished, just finished,” Trump said. “And by the way, I’m still here. To
the best of my knowledge, here I am.”
Brazil’s health minister also recommended last week using
hydroxychloroquine, as well as the anti-malarial chloroquine, to treat even
mild COVID-19 cases.
The Lancet study found that both drugs could produce potentially serious
side effects, particularly heart arrhythmia.
And neither drug helped patients hospitalised with COVID-19, according to
the study, which looked at the records of 96,000 patients across hundreds of
hospitals.
Tedros said both drugs were generally safe for patients with autoimmune
diseases or malaria.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told Monday’s briefing the Solidarity
Trial had been looking only at the effects of hydroxychloroquine and not
chloroquine.
The decision to suspend enrolment for trials using hydroxychloroquine was “a
temporary measure”, she said.
– ‘Dangerous assumption’ –
The COVID-19 pandemic, which began late last year in China, has killed
nearly 350,000 people worldwide and infected almost 5.5 million, according to
an AFP tally using official sources.
While there is still no approved treatment or vaccine, drastic measures that
at one point saw half of humanity under lockdown have pushed down transmission
rates in several countries.
As many nations begin to gradually lift restrictions, the WHO stressed the
need to maintain physical distancing and to scale up efforts to test and
detect cases.
“All countries need to remain on high alert,” WHO expert Maria Van Kerkhove
said.
“The virus will take the opportunity to amplify if it can.”
WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan warned against the idea that the pandemic
might move in seasonal waves.
“Making an assumption that it is on a downward trajectory, and the next
danger point is some time in October or November, I think that would be a
dangerous assumption,” he said.