World Health Organization drops hydroxychloroquine from COVID-19 study
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday said it had halted a clinical trial testing hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, citing clinical evidence so far from its studies as well as studies conducted by other organizations. The WHO has been running a clinical trial with multiple therapies including hydroxychloroquine as part of an effort to find a treatment that can successfully treat COVID-19 patients. “Investigators will not randomize further patients to hydroxychloroquine in the Solidarity trial,” WHO officials said in a statement. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, an older formulation of the same drug, have been used for decades to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the medications were some of the first drugs to be touted as having the promise to treat COVID-19 patients. However, a series of clinical studies have found the drug does not reduce mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and the Food and Drug Administration recently revoked an emergency use authorization granted to the medications.
