The drug of discord between judges and doctors – Chronicle

Hydroxychloroquine yes or hydroxychloroquine no? While I medici are separated, the WHO rejects the effectiveness and Aifa suspends the authorizations, the Council of State affirms that yes, doctors can re-prescribe drug anti malaric and anti-rheumatoid arthritis to cure Sars-Cov-2. However, the administrative judges excluded reimbursement. Section III of the Council of State accepted, as a precautionary measure, the appeal of a group of general practitioners and suspended the note of July 22 Aifa which prohibited the off-label prescription (for a use not foreseen in the package insert) of hydroxychloroquine for the fight against Covid. And the virologist Matteo Bassetti thunders: “The judges cannot decide the therapy.”

But the ordinance is clear: “The persistent uncertainty abouttherapeutic efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, admitted by the AIFA to justify further evaluation in randomized clinical trials, is not sufficient legal reason to justify the unreasonable discontinuation of its use in Italy. The choice of using the drug or not should be referred, in a situation of doubt and contrast in the scientific community, based on non-unambiguous clinical data, on its efficacy only in the initial stage of the disease.autonomy of decision and responsibility of the doctor in science and conscience and with the evident informed consent of the individual patient “.

The drug – on which there is no unambiguous scientific opinion – was publicly praised by the former president of the United States, Donald trump It is defended by cardiologist Alessandro Capucci: “With this sentence, the patients were given an opportunity to treat them.hydroxychloroquine, when used in the initial phase of the disease, blocks inflammation and prevents the cytokine storm, which determines the greater severity of the disease. Between March and April in Rimini with other health professionals we treated 350 patients at home with hydroxychloroquine at the first symptoms of flu, only 55 were hospitalized and the mortality was close to zero. “And the professor concludes on the allegations of adverse events : “The infectious disease specialist Bassetti talk about many studies on side effects? Like any drug, if used disproportionately it can hurt, but here we are talking about 200 milligrams twice a day, there is no danger. It is only not recommended for people with long QT syndrome, a congenital heart disease. “

Meanwhile in Italy the value of thetransmissibility index Rt, who touched it 0.82, as well as confirming the tendency to decrease the pressure on intensive care and hospital wards. However, in 24 hours 761 dead. The weekly follow-up by the Ministry of Health-Iss: the incidence of cases is still too high (18,727 infections with 9.8% positive in tests) to allow sustainable management.