British scientists halted a large trial on Friday that had been exploring the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in patients with the pandemic disease Covid-19 after initial results showed no evidence of benefit.
“We reviewed the data and concluded there is no evidence of a beneficial effect of hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalized with Covid, and decided to stop enrolling patients to the hydroxychloroquine arm with immediate effect,” said Martin Landray, an Oxford University professor who is co-leading the so-called RECOVERY trial.
“This is not a treatment for Covid-19. It doesn’t work,” he said.
He added saying: “This result should change medical practice worldwide. We can now stop using a drug that is useless.”
The anti-malarial drug has been highly controversial since U.S. President Donald Trump said the drug could be a potential “game changer” in the coronavirus pandemic and after a study published in the medical journal The Lancet last month, which led several Covid-19 studies to be halted.
The Lancet study was retracted later on Thursday.
Landray, who is a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Oxford, noted: “There has been huge speculation and uncertainty about the role of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 but there was an absence of reliable information from large randomized trials”.
He said the preliminary results from the RECOVERY trial, which was a randomized trial - are now quite clear: hydroxychloroquine does not reduce the risk of death among hospitalized patients with Covid-19.
“If you’re admitted to hospital, don’t take hydroxychloroquine,” he said.
