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DISAPPOINTED: They were sober optimists, but the study shows that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine does not work against the coronavirus. From left to right Olav Dalgard, professor of infectious disease medicine at the University of Oslo (UiO) and Ahus, Magnus Nakrem Lyngbakken, postdoctoral fellow and specialist physician in the department of infections at Ahus and Helge Røsjø, director of research and innovation at Ahus. Photo: Ahus communication department
Ahus’s doctors, who have been investigating since March whether antimalarial drugs can reduce the amount of coronavirus in covid-19 patients, now claim that this is not the case.
Hydroxychloroquine, which has long been used against malaria, has no depressant effect on COVID-19, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
In the study, which included 53 patients, the level of virus in the patient’s throat was measured. for Treatment began with the drug, which in Norway is registered under the name Plaquenil.
– No effect
The patients were divided into two random groups. Half received standard treatment, while the other group received additional treatment with hydroxychloroquine for seven days.
After 48 and 96 hours, new samples were taken to see if the virus level decreased, increased, or remained unchanged, as well as how quickly the virus level decreased. However, no differences were found in morbidity and mortality between the two groups.
– We show that hydroxychloroquine has no effect on how quickly the virus clears the respiratory tract. If the drug had any effect on mortality, we would have expected the virus to disappear faster when taking hydroxychloroquine, says Olav Dalgard, professor of infectious disease medicine at the University of Oslo (UIO) and Akershus University Hospital (Ahus) to VG . He points out that the results are very much in line with the WHO Solidarity study.
Preliminary results from the WHO study show little or no reduction in mortality from treatment with Remdesivir, hydroxychlor, lopinavir / ritonavir, and interferon.
In the Norwegian study, to which researchers from Østfold Kalnes Hospital, the UIO Department of Clinical Medicine and HSØ Regional Research Support also contributed, patients received hydroxychloroquine 400 mg tablets in the morning and evening during seven days.
– disappointed
– Our assessment is that it does not work. We are disappointed, but at the same time happy that we were able to carry out this study properly, says Helge Røsjø, director of research and innovation at Ahus, who was also involved in the study group.
Dalgard says they were sober optimists before they started, as four or five drugs seem to work against corona when tested in labs, but that doesn’t mean, as researchers have shown, that they work when tested. them in sick people.
The mean age of the patients in the Ahus study was 62 years and 66% were men.
Hydroxychloroquine is anti-inflammatory and is used today for rheumatism, systemic lupus, and Sjøgren’s syndrome.
In May, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, declared that he had started taking hydroxychloroquine and that on March 19 the drug was urgently approved for the treatment of patients with covid-19 in the United States.
