The anti-inflammatory drug hydroxychloroquine should not be used to prevent COVID-19, according to a new World Health Organization recommendation.
Several clinical trials in more than 6,000 people showed that the drug had no significant effect on death or hospitalization in people who had no previous exposure to COVID-19.
Studies have shown “moderate certainty” that not only did hydroxychloroquine have no significant effect on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection, but it also likely increased the risk of side effects.
The WHO recommendation was published in The BMJ, a medical journal. A group of WHO experts is studying various drugs that could be used to prevent COVID-19 infection, and the hydroxychloroquine recommendation is the first published by the group.
“The panel considers that this drug is no longer a research priority and that resources should be used to evaluate other more promising drugs to prevent COVID-19,” the WHO said in a statement.
The recommendations are intended “to provide reliable guidance on the management of COVID-19 and to help physicians make better decisions with their patients,” the WHO said.
Hydroxychloroquine was originally approved as an anti-malarial drug and is also used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
The drug became important after the first one President Trump
Donald Trump Prosecutors focus Trump’s investigation on the company’s financial officer: WHO official report says it is ‘premature’ to believe the pandemic will end by the end of the year, Romney was released from hospital after falling over the weekend, members of its administration and its supporters have continuously promoted it, both as a miraculous treatment for COVID-19 and as a prophylactic, despite limited evidence.
Last spring, Trump said he was taking hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc as a way to prevent COVID-19 after a White House nurse was diagnosed with the disease.
Trump finally contracted COVID-19 in October and recovered largely by using a monoclonal antibody treatment that was not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration at the time.
The promotion by Trump and his allies created a runaway on the drug, leading to shortages for patients who needed it. Some states are still trying to cope with the stocks gained during the height of the hydroxychloroquine madness last spring.
The FDA issued an emergency authorization for the drug in March last year, and outside observers felt the agency was bowing to political pressure.
The permit was finally withdrawn in June due to serious safety concerns. The agency cited failures in clinical trials showing that the drug may not be effective in treating or preventing COVID-19 in people who have been exposed and that the potential benefits do not outweigh the risks.
A separate study by the National Institutes of Health found that hydroxychloroquine had no benefit for hospitalized patients.