No hydroxychloroquine as Covid treatment in France
The French government said on Wednesday that doctors should no longer prescribe hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 patients, an unproven and potentially harmful treatment for the disease nonetheless promoted by US President Donald Trump. The move came after two French advisory bodies and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned this week that the drug, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, had been shown to be dangerous in several studies.
Europe’s Discovery programme of hydroxychloroquine trials in several countries to gauge its effectiveness in the coronavirus fight have also been suspended since Sunday, France’s Inserm research institute said.
The urgency of the coronavirus outbreak prompted some doctors to prescribe the drug despite a lack of research to demonstrate its effectiveness against the new coronavirus.
A French infectious disease specialist in particular insists he has successfully treated some 4,000 patients by using hydroxychloroquine with the antibiotic azithromycin.
The doctor, Didier Raoult, has caught the ear of Trump, who stunned his own administration last week by revealing he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against Covid-19.
US regulators, however, have advised against taking the drug because of health risks, but that has not deterred Trump.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is also promoting hydroxychloroquine, and the country’s health ministry said on Monday that it would keep recommending it despite the WHO suspending trials.