The wonder-drug Hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid withdrawn
16 Jun 2020
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn Hydroxychloroquine with supporting evidence that the drug has no anti-viral effect. The FDA has granted the use of the drug for some serious and emergency cases. After conducting clinical studies the FDA has suggested that Hydroxychloroquine is ineffective in treating the deadly virus and failed to prevent infection and the agency concludes that the drug does not save lives.
The 74-year-old US president, Mr. Trump, the promoter of the drug has reacted to this decision saying that he had previously taken the drug as a preventive measure and confirmed that he experienced no side effects.
Earlier, after conducting considerable trials in several countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) had decided to halt the use of Hydroxychloroquine, the acclaimed Trump-endorsed drug for the treatment of Covid-19. The various medical studies conducted in this area have suggested that the drug could increase the risk of patients dying from Covid-19 due to cardiac problems.
Medical reports claimed that Hydroxychloroquine was safe for malaria, and conditions like lupus or arthritis, but no clinical trials ever have recommended its use for treating Covid-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its grave concern over the reports of self-medicating with Hydroxychloroquine and causing themselves serious problems including that related to the heart. Besides, it was reported that the UN health agency had informed that Hydroxychloroquine would be removed from those trials pending in this regard. The researchers also warned that Hydroxychloroquine should not be used outside of clinical trials.
The medical studies involved 96,000 coronavirus patients, it had been proved that nearly 15,000 of whom given Hydroxychloroquine or the related forms of Chloroquine, either likely to die in a hospital or developed cardiac complications.
The death rates of the treated groups were: Hydroxychloroquine 18%; Chloroquine 16.4%; control group 9%. Those treated with Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine in combination with antibiotics had an even higher death rate.
