The WHO has also announced that it is suspending its trials of hydroxychloroquine. (Representative)
Geneva:
The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has decided to suspend a clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, citing problems in recruiting enough patients to study the controversial drug.
“Novartis has made the decision to stop and discontinue its sponsored HCQ clinical trial for COVID-19 due to acute enrollment difficulties that made it impossible to complete the trial,” the company said in a statement. Friday night.
The problem “made it unlikely that the clinical team would be able to collect meaningful data in a reasonable amount of time,” he said.
“No safety concerns have been reported, and there are no conclusions about the effectiveness of the study.”
Hydroxychloroquine and its related compound chloroquine are traditionally used to treat malaria and, with known antiviral potential, were considered a possible treatment at the start of the pandemic.
Despite recognized serious side effects, many figures, including President Donald Trump, have widely touted it as COVID-19 treatment at a time when there is no vaccine for the disease and others Potentially effective drugs are just beginning to be identified.
In April, Novartis announced that it would sponsor a Phase III clinical trial in approximately 440 patients in the United States using hydroxychloroquine to treat inpatients with COVID-19 in agreement with the United States Food and Drug Administration ( FDA).
But earlier this month, US authorities suspended its use, and this week the World Health Organization said it was suspending its trials of hydroxychloroquine because it showed no ability to reduce the rates of mortality.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
