WHO Halts Hydroxychloroquine Trials; Concludes Drug Brings No Reduction In Mortality Of COVID-19 Patients

The WHO officially announced on Wednesday that the ongoing research on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine has been halted. As per the health organization’s statement, recent findings indicated that ‘hydroxychloroquine failed to prove any tangible success ‘in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

“The combined evidence from these large, randomized trials suggests that hydroxychloroquine when compared with the standard of care in the treatment of hospitalized COVID patients, does not result in the reduction of mortality of those patients,” said Dr. Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, a medical officer with the WHO's department of immunization, vaccines and biologicals, said at a news briefing Wednesday, June 17.

Henao-Restrepo maintained that the decision to freeze the hydroxychloroquine trials weren’t reflective of any WHO policy.

The health organization clarified that the decision will however not hamper the proceedings of other ongoing research determining the usefulness of hydroxychloroquine.

U.S. President Donald Trump has aggressively propagated the benefits of the anti-malarial drug in the past, and hailed it as a “potential cure” in the battle against the novel coronavirus, despite no scientific backing to his claims.

The buzz around the usefulness of the drug in treating COVID-19 patients garnered popularity in February. But, multiple types of research concluded that the drug was half as effective as it was made to be. On the contrary, experts learned that continual use of the drug bore adverse effects -- abnormal heart rhythm and the like.

Trump had earlier revealed how he has been using it since May, to protect himself from contracting the virus. The effectiveness was refuted by experts on the grounds that the studies clearly pointed out how Hydroxychloroquine was no better than a placebo in serving as a cure against the highly contagious virus.

Remdesivir is currently the only drug that has been shown promising results as a potential cure in clinical trials for terminally sick patients. Additionally, a volley of researchers at the University of Oxford in England Tuesday suggested that dexamethasone, a popular steroid, could offer a degree of relief to those infected by COVID-19 to survive the illness, although findings from that trial are yet to be disclosed to the public.