According to a new recommendation from the World Health Organization, the anti-inflammatory drug hydroxychloroquine should not be used to prevent COVID-19.
Multiple clinical studies involving more than 6,000 people showed that the drug had no meaningful effect on death or hospitalization in people who had not previously been exposed to COVID-19.
The studies showed “moderate certainty” that hydroxychloroquine not only had no meaningful effect on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection, but also likely increased the risk of adverse events.
The WHO recommendation was published in The BMJ, a medical journal. A WHO expert panel is studying various drugs that can be used to prevent COVID-19 infection, and the recommendation for hydroxychloroquine is the first to be published by the panel.
“The panel believes this drug is no longer a research priority and resources should be used to evaluate other more promising drugs to prevent COVID-19,” WHO said in a statement.
The recommendations are intended to “provide reliable guidance in the management of COVID-19 and help physicians make better decisions with their patients,” the WHO said.
Hydroxychloroquine was initially approved as a malaria medicine and is also used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
The drug gained fame after the previous one President Trump
Donald Trump Prosecutors Focus Trump Organization Investigation on Company Financial Official: WHO official report says it is “ premature ” to think pandemic will be over by year’s end., members of his government and his supporters continuously promoted it as both a miracle treatment for COVID-19 and a prophylactic treatment, despite little evidence.
Last spring, Trump said he had used hydroxychloroquine, in combination with zinc, to avoid getting COVID-19 after a White House employee was diagnosed with the disease.
Trump eventually shut down COVID-19 in October and largely recovered by using a monoclonal antibody treatment that was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration at the time.
The promotion by Trump and his allies sparked a run on the drug, resulting in shortages for patients who needed it. Some states are still trying to deal with supplies acquired during the height of last spring’s hydroxychloroquine craze.
The FDA approved emergency use of the drug in March, and outside observers felt the agency was giving in to political pressure.
The permit was eventually revoked in June due to serious security concerns. The agency cited the failed clinical trials to show that the drug may not be effective in treating COVID-19 or preventing it 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.