EU governments ban use of hydroxychloroquine drug for COVID-19 patients

The European governments on May 27 halted the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients. While the drug was promoted by US President Donald Trump, countries including France, Italy and Belgium paused the large trial of hydroxychloroquine due to safety concerns. A UK regulator also reportedly said that a separate trial was also being held, less than a week after it started. 

While speaking to an international media outlet, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that all the hydroxychloroquine trials in COVID-19 remain under ‘close review’ as investigators are assessing any further risks. As the governments around the world are scrambling to find ways to treat patients and control the novel virus, regulators in several countries had allowed the use of drug and said that it could be used as a potential COVID-19 treatment. 

READ: France Halts Use Of Hydroxychloroquine For COVID-19 Patients

Trump himself was particularly a strong supporter and even described the drug as a ‘game-changer’. However, several recent studies have reportedly raised safety issues. The British medical journal, The Lancet, has reported that the coronavirus patients receiving hydroxychloroquine were more likely to die and experience dangerous irregular heartbeats. As per a media report, France’s health ministry also cancelled a decree in place for nearly two months that had allowed hospital doctors to dispense it in specific situations for COVID-19. 

Medicine agencies in France and Italy also said that the drug should not be used for coronavirus outside clinical trials. Moreover, Belgium’s regulator reportedly said that trials aiming to evaluate the drug should also take potential risks into consideration. As per a media report, Swiss drugmaker Novartis is also pushing ahead with its US study involving 440 patients, while France company Sanofi declined to comment on the future of its two trials. 

READ: 'Findings On Safety & Efficacy Of Hydroxychloroquine Expected By Mid-June': WHO

WHO ‘temporarily pauses’ HCQ trial 

Additionally, Italian health authorities also concluded that the risks, coupled with little evidence hydroxychloroquine was beneficial against COVID-19, merited a ban outside of clinical trials. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation said that a safety panel would evaluate by mid-June the drug’s use in its multi-country trials of potential COVID-19 treatments. “A final decision on the harm, benefit or lack of benefit of hydroxychloroquine will be made once the evidence has been reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board,” WHO said in a statement. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO)'s Executive Group, on Monday, decided to 'temporarily pause’ the Hydroxychlorine (HCQ) trial while the data collected so far is reviewed, announced WHO chief Dr Tedros in a press briefing. He added that the Executive Group's solidarity trial comprising of 10 countries will adequately evaluate the potential benefits and harms from this drug. Clarifying that the other arms of the trial were continuing, he added that the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were generally safe for treating patients of autoimmune diseases or malaria.

(Image: AP) 

READ: ICMR Clarifies 'no Major Side-effects' Of Hydroxychloroquine, Advises To 'continue' Usage

READ: Hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin Combo May Be Potentially Lethal: Study