The World Health Organization now recommends against using hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19.
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. It first gained attention in March 2020, when former President Donald Trump said he was using it to prevent COVID-19.
In a review released in the British Medical Journal, the WHO examined six randomized controlled trials that tested hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic for coronavirus infection. Three of the trials tested the drug on patients who had been exposed to someone who had tested positive for the virus. The other three tested patients who had no known exposure. In total, there were over 6,000 patients involved in the studies.
The WHO found with high certainty that hydroxychloroquine had a small or no effect on preventing death or hospitalization due to COVID-19. It found with moderate certainty that the drug had a small or no effect on COVID-19 infection.
The review also discouraged the 80 trials that are still planned to test hydroxychloroquine. “The high certainty evidence that has emerged regarding the lack of effect of hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis suggests that funders and researchers should reconsider the initiation or continuation of these trials,” the review stated.
The WHO recommendation is the latest blow to proponents of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the drug last March and then revoked it in June when new evidence suggested it was ineffective.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
More recently, the Henry Ford Health System discontinued a study of the drug after only 624 participants signed. It was expected to enroll 3,000.