Chloroquine: Olivier Véran requests a revision of the rules in France

Olivier Véran reacts to the large study, published Friday, May 22, pointing to the ineffectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine on patients hospitalized because of Covid-19. The French Minister of Health asked, Saturday, May 23, the High Council of Public Health (HCSP) to propose "within 48 hours a review of the derogatory rules of prescription" of these treatments.

"Following the publication in The Lancet of a study alerting to the ineffectiveness and risks of certain treatments of Covid-19 including hydroxychloroquine, I asked the HCSP to analyze it and offer me within 48 hours a review of the overriding prescription rules, "the minister said in a tweet.

Following the publication in @TheLancet of a study alerting to the ineffectiveness and risks of certain treatments of #COVID ー 19 including hydroxychloroquine, I entered @HCSP_fr so that it could be analyzed and offered 48h a review of the derogating prescription rules.

A treatment that crystallizes the debates

Apart from clinical trials, France has already restricted the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in hospitals only and only for serious cases on the collegial decision of doctors.

This molecule, derived from the antimalarial chloroquine, has known an unprecedented notoriety since the end of February since Professor Didier Raoult, of the University Hospital Institute (IHU) in Marseille, relayed a small, little detailed Chinese study, claiming that the chloroquine phosphate showed signs of efficacy in patients with SARS-CoV2.

Two studies, a Chinese and a French one, published last week, however, found that the HCQ did not significantly reduce the risks of admission to intensive care or death in patients hospitalized with pneumonia due to Covid-19.

And another study, with data on a total of 96,000 patients, published Friday in The Lancet, to which Olivier Véran alludes in his tweet, concluded that neither chloroquine nor the HCQ is effective against Covid-19 in hospitalized patients. According to this study, these molecules even increase the risk of death and arrhythmia

With AFP

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