Daily Mail reports that Oxford University researchers will continue their trial of the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, on coronavirus patients despite the World Health Organization's announcement to stop global trials.
On Monday, the WHO suspended global trials on using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. This was after a study, and numerous claims revealed that the drug posed risks for heart conditions and could even cause death.
Last Friday, The Lancet research studied more than 96,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Researchers found that patients treated with hydroxychloroquine had a higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems compared to those who were not given antimalarial drugs.
Nevertheless, the drug was only given to patients already at a high risk of falling victim to COVID-19.
The Recovery Trial
The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY Trial) is a program of the University of Oxford which aims to investigate the effect of some of the most promising treatments on coronavirus patients.
Treatments used in the trial include lopinavir-ritonavir, low-dose dexamethasone, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, tocilizumab, and convalescent plasma. The patients enrolled in this trial had moderate to severe infection of the virus.
According to the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), they did not see any safety issues with the Recovery Trial. More than 10,500 COVID patients under the NHS are participating in the trial at hundreds of hospitals around the UK.
The Recovery Trial has been viewed as safe because the drug is being randomly assigned to patients with different degrees of illness and compared against a control group.
According to Peter Horby, one of the Recovery's chief investigators and a professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at Oxford, an independent committee examined their data and did not see any safety concerns with their trials.
He added that the MHRA agreed with their interpretation that the data provided reassurance that continued enrollment into the hydroxychloroquine trial is safe.
Furthermore, he adds that the agency said they should carry on with getting a reliable answer on hydroxychloroquine through the Recovery trial.
The Principle Trial
The Principle or 'Platform Randomised trial of Interventions against COVID-19 in older people' trial aims to find treatments for COVID-19 for the elderly. The trial aims to find medications that can help people with COVID-19 symptoms recover quickly and prevent them from needing to visit the hospital.
The Principle trial is studying people from the ages of 50 to 64 who have COVID-19 symptoms. It also aims to explore elderly people with chronic health conditions such as heart disease, asthma, or cancer. It is uncertain how many patients are taking part in it.
Recently, the MHRA has also temporarily blocked recruitment for the Principle trial. The trial had also been examining the effect of hydroxychloroquine on elderly COVID patients.
According to Professor Trudie Lang, the director of The Global Health Network, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, the WHO's momentary halt on the use of chloroquine in COVID-19 clinical trials highlights why it's critical to run carefully-designed clinical trials during outbreaks.
Dr. Stephen Griffin, an associate professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, agrees by saying that the WHO has taken the wise precaution of stopping therapeutic trials relating to chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.
