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WHO restarts hydroxychloroquine testing as drug fails another COVID-19 trial

Editors flag ‘serious’ concerns regarding validity of data in Lancet paper

June 4, 2020 1:20 AM UTC

In the latest hit to hydroxychloroquine, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that use of the malaria drug as post-exposure prophylaxis doesn’t prevent COVID-19. The report comes as the WHO resumes hydroxychloroquine testing in SOLIDARITY, and data from a trial that found an association with mortality have become suspect.

Reported Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the University of Minnesota, McGill University, the University of Alberta and the University of Manitoba tested whether the malaria drug could prevent either laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or the development of symptoms consistent with COVID-19. The drug was given within four days of exposure to SARS-CoV-2...