EU GOV’TS BAN HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE AS COVID-19 TREATMENT

Member-nations of the European Union (EU) have dumped the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19, with medical researchers saying the drug has proven to be ineffective in destroying the virus and curing ailments that it had caused.

In a story written on May 28, 2020 for Reuters, Matthias Blamont, Alistair Smout and Emilio Parodi, they said that European governments moved on Wednesday to halt the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients and a second global trial was suspended owing to the dangers posed by the drug to patients with heart problems.

The moves by France, Italy and Belgium followed a World Health Organization (WHO) decision on Monday to pause a large trial of hydroxychloroquine due to safety concerns, a move that shattered the claim of US President Donald Trump that the drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, malaria and lupus was a “game changer” in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

A UK regulator said on Wednesday that a separate trial was also being put on hold, less than a week after it started. The study, being led by the University of Oxford and partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was expected to involve as many as 40,000 healthcare workers. Italy, France, Belgium and Switzerland also clamped down on the use of the drug, which had caused deaths in trials in the US, France and other countries. #COVID19