The World Health Organisation (WHO) has put an end to its testing of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 patients after some safety concerns were raised, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who is the Director-General of WHO said on Monday.
The drug Hydroxychloroquine has been repeatedly approved by The American President Donald Trump as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus disease. The USA President also said he was taking the drug as a means to prevent himself from the coronavirus infection.
The WHO Director-General said, “The executive group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity trial while the safety data is reviewed by the data safety monitoring board”.
The director-general said the other arms of the trial which include a major international initiative to hold clinical tests of potential treatments for the virus would be continuing despite.
The World Health Organisation had previously advised people against the use of hydroxychloroquine for prevention or treatment of the virus, except as part of clinical trials.
