(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) WHO decides to resume trial of hydroxychloroquine against New Coronavirus

  China News Agency, Brussels, June 3, Geneva: After the announcement on May 25 that the hydroxychloroquine trial against the new crown virus was temporarily suspended, WHO announced on the 3rd that based on the existing patient mortality data, WHO decided to resume Test of hydroxychloroquine against new coronavirus.

Data graph: Tan Desai, Director-General of WHO. Photo courtesy of China News Service

  WHO Director-General Tan Desai said at the regular press conference held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva that WHO's "Unity Pilot Project" executive team decided to temporarily halt hydroxychloroquine due to concerns about drug safety After the new coronavirus test, the safety data monitoring committee has been evaluating the safety data of hydroxychloroquine. "Based on the existing mortality data, the committee members suggested that there is no reason to modify the test protocol."

  Tan Desai pointed out that the WHO "Unity Pilot Project" implementation team accepted the opinions of the Safety Data Monitoring Committee and agreed to continue all the "Unity Pilot Project" branch tests, including the hydroxychloroquine anti-new coronavirus test. The implementation team will later Communicate with the person in charge of the research on the recovery of hydroxychloroquine against the new coronavirus test.

  In March of this year, WHO launched the “Unity Trial Project”, which began to compare the safety and efficacy of four anti-new coronavirus drugs or drug combinations through clinical trials. Hydrochlorochloroquine, which is an anti-malarial drug, is one of The malaria drug chloroquine is not included); the authoritative medical journal British "Lancet" published an observational research report on May 22, indicating that patients with new coronary pneumonia whether taking hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine alone or in combination with macrolides, research Staff estimates that the patient's mortality rate is high.

  After the World Health Organization notified the cessation of the hydroxychloroquine anti-new coronavirus test on May 25, public opinion's doubts about hydroxychloroquine reached a high point, but there are also voices that the observational research report published by the "Lancet" is flawed. The methods and data collection failed to reflect the actual situation.

  Regarding the "drug efficacy" of hydroxychloroquine, WHO chief scientist Swaminatan emphasized at a press conference on the 3rd that there are still many "unknowns" about the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat new coronary pneumonia, only through clinical trials, especially norms The exact answer will be obtained from the randomized trial of WHO. Therefore, WHO encourages the continuation of the trial of hydroxychloroquine against the new coronavirus, and at the same time will closely monitor the safety data of the trial, and will not rule out adjusting the trial again in the future. (Finish)