Geneva: The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to drop hydroxychloroquine from its global study into COVID-19 treatments.
Speaking at the Global Media briefing today, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO stated that in light of a paper published last week in The Lancet, that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were at a higher risk of death and heart-related problems than those who were not taking HCQ.
Dr Tedros revealed that 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
“The other arms of the trial are continuing. This concern relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloraquine in #COVID19. I wish to reiterate that these drugs are accepted as generally safe for use in patients with autoimmune diseases or malaria,” Dr Tedros expressed.
"On Friday, @TheLancet published an observational study on hydroxycholoroquine & chloraquine & its effects on #COVID19 patients that have been hospitalised"-@DrTedros
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 25, 2020
"The authors reported that among #COVID19 patients receiving the drug, when used alone or with a macrolide, they estimated a higher mortality rate"-@DrTedros
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 25, 2020
"The Executive Group of the Solidarity Trial, representing 10 of the participating countries, met on Saturday and has agreed to review a comprehensive analysis and critical appraisal of all evidence available globally"-@DrTedros #COVID19
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 25, 2020
