WHO halts hydroxychloroquine trials for COVID-19 treatment

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug ritonavir in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality.

The WHO said in a statement “These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect.”

The WHO officials said the decision, taken on the recommendation of the trial’s international steering committee, does not affect other studies where those drugs are used for non-hospitalized patients or as prophylaxis.

Another branch of the WHO-led trial is looking at the potential effect of Gilead’s antiviral drug redeliver on COVID-19.

Earlier, the European Commission on Friday gave remdesivir conditional approval for use after being shown to shorten hospital recovery times.

The solidarity trial started out with five branches looking at possible treatment approaches to COVID-19: standard care; remdesivir; hydroxychloroquine; lopinavir/ritonavir; and lopinavir/ritonavir combined with interferon

The decision on halting hydroxychloroquine trials came as the WHO also reported more than 200,000 new cases worldwide of the disease for the first time in a single day.

The United States accounted for 53,213 of the total 212,326 new cases recorded, the WHO said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged COVID-19 affected countries to wake up to the realities on the ground instead of bickering, and to take control.

“People need to wake up. The data is not lying. The situation on the ground is not lying,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said.

The Americas are the hardest-hit region, with most cases and deaths registered in the United States, and with numbers skyrocketing in several countries in Latin America.

Asked about the dire situations in nations like Brazil and Mexico, which have been moving away from lockdowns despite ballooning numbers of infections and deaths, Ryan warned, “Too many countries are ignoring what the data is telling them”.

“There are good economic reasons that the countries need to bring their economies back online,” he said. “It’s understandable, but you cannot ignore the problem either. The problem will not magically go away,” he added.