Hydroxychloroquine Clinical Trials Resume To Test If It Can Prevent COVID-19
Clinical trials of Hydroxychloroquine, the controversial anti-malarial drug, are to be resumed to test its efficiency in preventing COVID-19.
To test the theory, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine will be given to healthcare workers in a clinical study, said UK regulators.
Since one research which got discredited later had raised concerns about the side effects of the drug, recruitment to the COPCOV trial had been paused.
That particular research came up with conclusions that said hydroxychloroquine was not beneficial and increased the risk of irregular heart rhythms and death, following the publication, the WHO had suspended its clinical trials for the drug for treating COVID-19.
But there were concerns raised about the data, and the study’s authors discredited the work later, as the healthcare firm Surgisphere that was involved in the work would not allow an independent review.
Another paper from Surgisphere was also retracted by the journal New England Journal of Medicine. For years, hydroxychloroquine has been widely and safely used to prevent malaria infection.
Scientists are keen to explore whether the drug will prevent COVID-19 infections, although many studies suggest it is not a lifesaver for already infected people
.In the COPCOV trial, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, or placebo will be given to 40,000 healthcare workers from Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe.
Prof Sir Nicholas White, one of the lead researchers from the University of Oxford, said that a randomized controlled trial is required to determine if the drug can still prevent infections.
Even though the coronavirus cases are low in the UK now, the health care workers are still being affected, and the second wave of infections is expected this winter, said co-investigator Prof Martin Llewelyn.
Recently, a cheap steroid called dexamethasone was found to have beneficial effects in saving lives of COVID-19 infected people, while the anti-HIV drugs ritonavir and lopinavir found not helpful to patients hospitalized with coronavirus.
