Malaria Drug Hydroxychloroquine Also Shows No Special Effect, Clinical Trials Halted
[Asia Economy International Desk Reporter] The World Health Organization (WHO) has halted clinical trials using the HIV treatment drug Lopinavir/Ritonavir for COVID-19.
According to CNBC on the 4th (local time), WHO announced that clinical trials of Lopinavir/Ritonavir on hospitalized COVID-19 patients showed almost no reduction in mortality compared to standard treatment. Accordingly, WHO explained that the use of Lopinavir/Ritonavir in the COVID-19 "Solidarity Trial" led by WHO has been discontinued.
WHO's Solidarity Trial is an experiment studying the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 treatments, conducted in five categories. These included standard treatment, the Ebola treatment drug Remdesivir, the malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir/Ritonavir, and Lopinavir/Ritonavir combined with Interferon (a substance that inhibits viral infection and replication in the human body).
Among these, WHO announced the previous day that Hydroxychloroquine also showed no particular therapeutic benefit for COVID-19 and its use in the Solidarity Trial has been discontinued.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of COVID-19 infections worldwide has exceeded 11 million, with 527,647 deaths reported. There is still no COVID-19 treatment officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
