Researchers behind a global study into whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent coronavirus have warned against dismissing the dug prematurely, saying it could still save lives.
The Oxford University-led study, known as Copcov, is aiming to enrol 40,000 healthcare workers from across the world to determine whether the drug is effective at fighting Covid-19.
Hydroxychloroquine has been regularly discredited as an acceptable treatment for the virus, with multiple scientific studies suggesting the anti-malaria drug can actually do more harm than good.
Donald Trump, who has touted the medicine’s potential benefits throughout the pandemic, told a news briefing on Monday that it has become “politically toxic” only because “I supported it”.
He told reporters: “If I had said 'do not use hydroxychloroquine under any circumstances,' they (health officials) would have come out and said it's a great thing.”
The US president took a two-week course of the medication in May, even as the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, dismissed the drug.
Meanwhile, the researchers behind Copcov have stressed that, while the drug has been ruled out as a method to treat infections, it may still be able to prevent them.
One of the trial’s lead investigators Dr Will Schilling said: “We really don’t know if hydroxychloroquine works or not in prevention or very early treatment. That question remains unanswered.
“The benefits found in small post-exposure treatment trials, although modest, could be very valuable if they were confirmed.”
Professor Nick Day, director of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit which is also guiding the study, said the Copcov trial will be able to find a definitive answer to the drug’s effectiveness.
He said: “By the time patients are admitted to hospital virus multiplication is well past its peak and inflammation in the lungs and other complications may prove lethal.
“At this stage the steroid dexamethasone, which reduces inflammation, saves lives but the antivirals hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine do not.
“However, that does not rule out that they could be effective much earlier in the illness. Prevention is much easier than cure.
"The Copcov study will find out if these drugs can prevent Covid-19 or not.”
