For those who are worst affected by covid-19, the disease involves severely inflamed lungs and an inability to breathe. In parallel with the corona virus's progress, therefore, an intensive hunt for a drug has taken place - a drug that can provide the sickest better conditions for survival.

Doctors and researchers around the world have searched with light and lantern for an existing drug that can work anti-inflammatory. The Swedish Medicines Agency has previously approved a standby license for the ebola medicine Remdesivir. Another candidate praised by researchers and doctors abroad was chloroquine - the active substance in malaria medicine.

- When it came to this, we knew it had been used in China and Italy, and then we started using it as well. We thought it was a pretty harmless medicine with some side effects, ”says Magnus Gisslén, professor and chief physician at the infection clinic at Östra hospital in Gothenburg.

Positive tone

Magnus Gisslén tells us that you had seen a certain effect against the corona virus when testing chloroquine in test tubes. It was then concluded that it can work on patients. Last week, SVT Vetenskap spoke with The Scientific Pharmaceutical Companies (LIF), the Swedish industry organization for research pharmaceutical companies. Then the tone was positive.

"Given that it is a safe drug that we have had for about 70 years and that a lot of it speaks to its effectiveness when doing controlled follow-ups and following virus numbers and so on, I think this seems incredibly exciting," said Johan Brun, senior medical advisor on LIF, then.

Consequently, several seriously ill people in Sweden were treated with chlorikin.

Cancels treatment

However, Gothenburg and Västra Götaland now choose to interrupt the experiment. This is after several reports that the treatment can cause serious side effects, according to Magnus Gisslén.

- We cannot rule out that serious side effects can occur or even that the prognosis can be impaired if used. So that is why we have decided in Gothenburg, and in Västra Götaland, that we do not use it, he says.