BFF-39 ‘No benefit’ from hydroxychloroquine for virus: UK trial

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BFF-39

HEALTH-VIRUS-STUDY

‘No benefit’ from hydroxychloroquine for virus: UK trial

PARIS, June 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A major British trial of
hydroxychloroquine has found it has “no benefit” for patients
hospitalised with the coronavirus, researchers said Friday, announcing
they had stopped tests of the drug.

“We have concluded that there is no beneficial effect of
hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalised with COVID-19,” said a
statement from the chief investigators in the Recovery trial, which is
run by the University of Oxford and is testing a number of potential
treatments for the new coronavirus.

They added they would stop “with immediate effect” recruiting
patients to be given hydroxychloroquine, an old malaria and rheumatoid
arthritis drug favoured by US President Donald Trump.

The randomised clinical trial — considered the gold standard for
clinical investigation — and has recruited a total of 11,000 patients
from patients from 175 hospitals in the UK to test a range of drugs.

Researchers said 1,542 patients were randomly assigned to
hydroxychloroquine and compared with 3,132 patients given standard
hospital care alone.

They found “no significant difference” in mortality after 28 days
between the two groups, while there was also no evidence it would
shorten the amount of time spent in hospital.

The announcement comes in the same week that the World Health
Organization (WHO) restarted its trials of hydroxychloroquine after
they were temporarily halted because of a now-retracted study in The
Lancet medical journal.

BSS/AFP/MRU/2140hrs