On Wednesday, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization is set to resume its trial of hydroxychloroquine for potential use against COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Last month, the trial was suspended after the experts found that the drug raised a few health concerns in new COVID-19 patients.
The experts temporarily stopped the large study, which enrolled new patients, because it was found that the malaria drug increased the risk of cardiovascular events and death. However, the trail continued with other medications.
Dr. Tedros said the WHO experts have advised the continuation of all trials, including hydroxychloroquine, the drug that is optimistically backed up by President Donald Trump for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Trump even said that he has taken the drug to prevent the infection.
“The executive group will communicate with the principal investigators in the trial about resuming the hydroxychloroquine arm of the trial,” the WHO chief told an online media briefing.
The WHO’s decision to temporarily stop its hydroxychloroquine trial prompted other researchers to follow suit, including Sanofi, which said it was suspending recruitment for its trials.
A spokesperson of Sanofi said the company would “review available information and run consultations” in the coming days to reassess its position after the WHO’s latest decision to resume the trial on Wednesday.
Chief Scientists of the WHO Dr. Soumya Swaminathan called for other trials of hydroxychloroquine to proceed.
“We owe it to patients to have a definitive answer on whether or not a drug works,” she said, adding that it is important to continue safety monitoring.
Dr. Swaminathan said the WHO is also keen to see more results of clinical trials of an antiviral drug, Avifavir. She said the drug would be used to treat COVID-19 in Russian hospitals “very soon.”
In the same online briefing, the WHO said they were particularly worried about outbreaks in Latin America and in Haiti, which is the world’s poorest nations, where COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly. Globally, the virus had affected more than 6.5 million and killed over 388,000. In the United States, public health officials have reported more than 1.9 million confirmed cases, with over 109,140 deaths so far,
