Hydroxychloroquine in a pharmacy (illustration image). - GEORGE FREY / AFP

The European study Discovery, which assesses the effectiveness of four treatments for Covid-19 disease, "will consider resuming the inclusions" of new patients receiving hydroxychloroquine, 10 days after having suspended them on the basis of a study today criticized.

"The steering committee of Discovery (...) will consider resuming the inclusions in the hydroxychloroquine arm," said Inserm, which oversees the study, on Thursday. The group of independent experts responsible for analyzing the intermediate data from the clinical trial met on Wednesday and "recommends, on the basis of the examination of the updated data from Discovery, the continuation of the study as initially planned ”, specifies the research institute.

A study and a warning

The decision of the steering committee will be taken "in conjunction with the competent authorities in the countries where the trial is taking place, firstly the ANSM (the French drug agency)," he adds.

The Solidarity study teams coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), followed by those of the Discovery trial, which is closely associated with it, had suspended the inclusion of new patients treated with hydroxychloroquine after publication on May 22 of a study in the medical journal The Lancet judging ineffective or even harmful the use of the antimalarial chloroquine or its derivatives like hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19.

But the (yet) prestigious British review issued a formal warning Tuesday on the study, acknowledging that "serious scientific questions" arose about it. On Wednesday, the WHO announced the resumption of trials on this molecule commonly used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

No clear conclusion

"This decision is mainly based on the recommendations of the DSMB (the committee of independent experts) of the Solidarity study which analyzed the mortality data available in this study, but also on the DSMB's opinion of other randomized clinical trials examining the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine ”, emphasizes Inserm.

The fact that the independent committee recommends continuing the study also means that no "signal" allowing us to conclude that any of the treatments tested are effective has yet emerged.

In addition to hydroxychloroquine, the Discovery trial covers the antiviral remdesivir, the combination lopinavir / ritonavir (Kaletra) and a combination of these anti-retrovirals with interferon beta.

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