(Amir Vera and Jacqueline Howard/ CNN) — The World Health Organization has temporarily halted studying hydroxychloroquine as a potential Covid-19 treatment due to safety concerns, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing in Geneva on Monday.
The decision was made after an observational study published Friday in the medical journal The Lancet described how seriously ill Covid-19 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die. Tedros said that an independent executive group is now reviewing the use of hydroxychloroquine in WHO’s Solidarity Trial. The executive group represents 10 of the participating countries in the trial.
“The review will consider data collected so far in the Solidarity Trial and, in particular robust randomized available data, to adequately evaluate the potential benefits and harms from this drug,” Tedros said. “The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board.” (…)