Study casts more doubt on hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2020 (1394 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The first double-blind, randomized clinical trial to test hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against COVID-19 after an individual has been exposed to the virus, suggests there is no benefit from the medication.
“While we had hoped this drug would work in this context, our study demonstrates that hydroxychloroquine is no better than (a) placebo when used as post-exposure prophylaxis within four days of exposure to someone infected with the new coronavirus,” said Todd Lee, a scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, and one of the lead authors of the study.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was led by the University of Minnesota in the U.S. and McGill University in Canada, which partnered with the University of Manitoba.
Researchers used 821 subjects who were in good health but who’d been exposed either through their work or their household to someone who was confirmed to have COVID-19. Within four days of that exposure, the participant was randomly selected to either receive a five-day course of hydroxychloroquine, or a placebo treatment. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who had been assigned which course of treatment until the trial had concluded.
“We launched the first COVID-19 clinical trial in Manitoba, and played a key role in promoting this important randomized clinical trial across Canada,” said Ryan Zarychanski, the Manitoba lead in the trial, and associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Manitoba.
Of the 821 participants, 107 developed confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19. Of those, 49 had received the hydroxychloroquine treatment while 58 were in the control group that received a placebo treatment. Two patients were hospitalized, one in each group. No deaths occurred.
“Our study’s results set politics aside and provide unbiased evidence to guide practice in the prevention of COVID-19 and reinforce the importance of randomized clinical trials as we work together nationally and internationally to combat the novel coronavirus,’’ said Zarychanski.
The results of an observational study were released in May by the Lancet. It indicated there was also no benefit to using hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The findings linked the drugs’ use to a greater risk of death and heart arrhythmia.
sarah.lawrynuik@freepress.mb.ca