Hydroxychloroquine should not be used to prevent or treat COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised this week. The anti-inflammatory drug was once touted by former President Donald Trump, who said he was taking the treatment to prevent the corona virus last spring.
A panel of WHO experts found that the drug has no meaningful effect on deaths or hospitalizations due to coronavirus. They added that it can even be done increase the risk of adverse effects.
With great certainty, “the guideline development panel has made a strong recommendation against the use of hydroxychloroquine for individuals who do not have covid-19,” the panel wrote Tuesday in the peer-reviewed medical journal The BMJ.
“The panel found that almost all people would not find this drug worthwhile.”
The evidence came from six randomized control trials involving more than 6,000 people – both with and without known exposure to the virus.
The panel said hydroxychloroquine is no longer considered a research priority and that researchers should refocus their efforts on other promising preventative drugs. It added that the more than 80 studies that plan to enroll at least 100,000 participants for further research on hydroxychloroquine are unlikely to yield benefits and should be canceled.
The drug, which is used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, gained notoriety when Mr. Trump and other members of his administration strongly promoted it. The former president contracted the virus in October, and received unauthorized monoclonal antibody treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center.
The FDA initially issued an emergency use license for the drug in March. It has withdrawn the authorization in June, after determining that the drug “is unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for its authorized uses.”
Federal regulators had previously warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine, except in hospitals and formal studies because of the risk of side effects, especially heart rhythm problems.