WHO Suspends Clinical Trial Of Hydroxychloroquine For Covid-19 Cure Days After India Expands Use

Hydroxychloroquine has been consistently endorsed by world leaders including United States President Donald Trump as a potent drug to fight symptoms of Coronavirus.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday suspended the clinical trials of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine or HCQ amid safety concerns, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus informed. "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. The other arms of the trial are continuing," he said during an online media briefing earlier in the day. Hydroxychloroquine has been consistently endorsed by world leaders including United States President Donald Trump as a potent drug to fight symptoms of Coronavirus.

"The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board"-@DrTedros #COVID19

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 25, 2020

The development comes days after India's Health Ministry issued an advisory to expand the use of the drug as a prophylactic to prevent people from contracting the virus. Even the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had issued a revised guidelines for the use of anti-malarial drug, as a preventive medication for asymptomatic healthcare workers. However, the steering committee of the WHO decided to suspend enrollment to that arm over safety concerns. The move by WHO is most likely on the backdrop of a recent study which claimed that the drug, touted by President Trump as a treatment, was linked to an increased risk of death and heart ailments. “It’s important to continue to gather evidence on the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine," news agency Bloomberg quoted WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan as saying at a press briefing in Geneva. WATCH REPORT | WHO Restricts Usage Of 'Hydroxychloroquine' Against Covid-19 “We want to use it if it’s safe and efficacious, reduces mortality, reduces the length of hospitalization without increasing adverse events," he added. Reports also suggest that the safety monitoring board of the WHO will meet again in a week or two and further decision on continuation of the HCQ will be reviewed. An observational study led by Professor Mandeep R. Mehra, executive director of the Brigham and Women's Hospital Center for Advanced Heart Disease in Boston, has claimed that treatment with antimalarial drug chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine (taken with or without antibiotics azithromycin or clarithromycin) offers no benefit for patients with Covid-19. The study, published in the prestigious journal The Lancet, came after Trump said he is taking Hydroxychloroquine to ward off Coronavirus, even though health officials have warned it may be unsafe.