New Delhi (NVI): The World Health Organisation has discontinued trials of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir to find out whether these drugs help patients hospitalised with the Covid-19.
In a release, WHO said that it has “accepted the recommendation from the Solidarity Trial’s International Steering Committee to discontinue the trial’s hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms”.
The Solidarity Trial was established by WHO to find an effective COVID-19 treatment for hospitalized patients.
“The International Steering Committee formulated the recommendation in light of the evidence for hydroxychloroquine vs standard-of-care and for lopinavir/ritonavir vs standard-of-care from the Solidarity trial interim results, and from a review of the evidence from all trials presented at the 1-2 July WHO Summit on COVID-19 research and innovation,” WHO said in a statement.
The interim trial results showed that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. “Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” WHO said in a release issued Saturday.
-ARK
