WHO decision to pause hydroxychloroquine trials widely welcomed
● UK medical experts in agreement after drug advocated by Trump linked to increased risk of death and heart arrhythmias
UK health experts have widely welcomed the decision taken by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to pause Covid-19 trials of hydroxychloroquine, the drug advocated by Donald Trump to combat the virus.
Scientists found that hydroxychloroquine and a related medicine chloroquine was linked to increased risk of death and heart arrhythmias among those severely ill in hospital with coronavirus.
Trump has been criticised after saying he had nothing to lose by taking the drug, used to treat malaria and arthritis, despite warnings it could be unsafe. On Monday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decision had been taken in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet.
A number of trials have been taking place across the world looking at the drug’s effectiveness in combating Covid-19.
This includes a trial – called COPCOV – to see whether the drugs could prevent Covid-19 which had begun in Brighton and Oxford.
Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine or a placebo were to be given to more than 40,000 healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
After the study published in the Lancet, the Medicines and
Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) asked for recruitment to the trial to be paused.
The researchers have responded to the agency addressing its concerns and remain confident the trial will resume recruiting. Commenting on the announcement, Prof Trudie Lang, director of the Global Health Network, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, said: “The WHO temporarily halting the use of chloroquine in Covid-19 clinical trials highlights why we need to run carefullydesigned clinical trials during outbreaks.
“This enables us to learn as quickly as possible about whether potential therapies can tackle the virus and are safe.
“Properly designed and managed clinical trials are the only way we can see whether drugs might also cause harm.
“They are designed to assess the safety of the drug relative to the ability to bring any benefit.
“We have long known that chloroquine can cause harmful cardiac-related side effects from the use of chloroquine in the treatment of malaria. Recent trials carried out in China of a lower chloroquine dose didn’t show efficacy in relation to Covid-19.
“A higher chloroquine dose could bring increased risk of harmful side effects.”
She added that using chloroquine “off licence” or outside a trial does not help answer questions about its safety and can also present a risk to the patient.
Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, said: “The WHO has taken the wise precaution of halting arms of their wide-ranging therapeutics trial relating to chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).
“This is largely based upon a study published last week that retrospectively analysed