Who Stops Hydroxychloroquine Trials After Research Study Shows May Increase The Risk Of Death

: Admin : 2020-05-27

In a notable development, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now banned the trial of the hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine drugs on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-affected patients, citing a study by The Lancet journal which reports that the drugs might lead to an increased risk of death and the extent of their potential benefit or harm is yet to be completely understood.

The WHO, in an official press release, stated that the observational study by The Lancet noted the effects of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine on COVID-19 patients that have been hospitalised. During the study, "the authors reported that among patients receiving the drug, when used alone or with a macrolide, they estimated a higher mortality rate," the WHO release elaborated.

In view of this, the Executive Group of the Solidarity Trial has implemented a 'temporary pause' on the trial of the hydroxychloroquine arm, while agreeing to review a comprehensive analysis and critical appraisal of all evidence available globally. The safety data will be reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board.

The Solidarity Trial was initiated by the WHO more than two months ago to evaluate the safety and efficacy of four drugs and drug combinations against COVID-19. Over 400 hospitals in 35 countries had been roped in to actively recruit patients and nearly 3500 patients had already been enrolled from 17 countries.

Notably, India was also involved in this study, and the drug, which had been termed a 'game-changer' by India earlier, had been supplied to several foreign nations, including the US, Japan, Spain, Germany, and Brazil since it was in high demand globally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been personally approached by world leaders for the HCQ drug, and the decision to release surplus medicine for export purposes was made by a group of ministers, taking in view the domestic requirements and domestic stock availability.

However, the future of the drug was eventually suspected to be insecure in its use in treating COVID-19 patients, once HCQ started failing several tests to prove its efficiency after it came to light that infected patients showed no change in their conditions after being administered the drug.

Interestingly, remdesivir, an experimental drug developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc., a research-based biopharmaceutical company, has now been greenlit by American authorities for emergency use on serious coronavirus-affected patients in the US after clinical trials reportedly showed positive responses in severe COVID-19 patients. 

Remdesivir, which was originally tested in Ebola patients, has emerged as one of the top near-term hopes for COVID-19 patients. It is believed that the drug is working well on coronavirus patients as of now.

A large stock of the drug still exists with the private pharmaceutical company in the United States. A week ago, five generic drugmakers based in India and Pakistan signed a non-exclusive licensing pact with the company to expand the supply of the experimental drug.

As countries and companies engage in a drug race to find a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic, results in six months to a year will show definitively which drug is capable of dealing with the virus pandemic outbreak, which is spreading like wildfire across the world.

However, the Union Ministry of Health and Famly Welfare, on part of the central government, and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has yet to respond to the entire issue of WHO halting HCQ trials, as of now.

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