The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that clinical trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine will resume, after having been suspended pending a safety review in the search for coronavirus (COVID-19) treatments.
“On the basis of the available mortality data… the executive group will communicate with the principal investigators in the trial about resuming the hydroxychloroquine arm,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news briefing.
Concerns about data
British medical journal The Lancet said on Tuesday that it had concerns about data behind an influential article that found that HCQ increased the risk of death in COVID-19 patients, a conclusion that undercut scientific interest in the medicine championed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hydroxychloroquine with PPE reduces odds of COVID-19 in health workers: ICMR researchers
Hydroxychloroquine — which has anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties — inhibited the coronavirus in laboratory experiments, but has not been proven effective in humans, particularly in placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trials considered the gold standard for data. The debate has become highly politicised, and many scientists have voiced concern.
Open letter
Nearly 150 doctors signed an open letter to The Lancet last week calling the article’s conclusions into question and as