Hydroxychloroquine can't stop Covid-19 from progressing, says doctor

CORONAVIRUS | Hydroxychloroquine cannot stop Covid-19 from progressing more severely in patients, as suggested by available data from Malaysia.

The drug did not appear to prevent the conditions of patients in either Stage 2 or 3 from worsening, The Star quoted infectious disease consultant Dr K Suresh as saying.  

Suresh, who is also the Hospital Sungai Buloh’s head of medical department, said this at a webinar on the latest status of clinical management of Covid-19 on Thursday which was moderated by former deputy Health director-general Dr Christopher Lee.

This preliminary conclusion was based on data from 586 Covid-19 patients from Hospital Sungai Buloh and Hospital Permai (Johor) who did not need oxygen support.

About 451 patients were given hydroxychloroquine for at least five days and the results were compared with 135 patients who did not receive the drug.

The data from the 135 patients were past data gathered before the drug was introduced for treating Covid-19.

The results showed that the percentage of patients who were given hydroxychloroquine and deteriorated to Stage 4 and 5 was 10 percent (45 out of 451) while 8.9 percent (12 out of 135) of patients who were not given hydroxychloroquine also showed deterioration to more severe stages.

“Hydroxychloroquine doesn’t seem to prevent the deterioration of severe disease. The results did not show any significant difference between the two groups,” Suresh said.

He said Malaysia might also stop using the drug for the time being, following the results.

The World Health Organisation had also announced on Wednesday that it was dropping hydroxychloroquine from its massive clinical study after data indicated it was ineffective to treat Covid-19.

However, the definitive data on hydroxychloroquine will come from the US’ National Institute of Health (NIH), Suresh said.

The NIH is studying the effects of giving 2,000 outpatients with early Covid-19 hydroxychloroquine at the very early onset of the disease to see whether it will prevent the need for hospitalisation, he added.

Suresh said the NIH study will be the conclusive finding on the effectiveness of the drug.

The Health Ministry’s current guidelines state that lopinavir/ritonavir and favipravir will be prescribed for Stages 4 and 5 patients, he said.

Suresh added that interferons will be used if the illness lasts fewer than seven days.

He said the Health Ministry’s guidelines for Covid-19 treatment had initially included ribavirin – an anti-viral – but doctors stopped using it after patients developed problems with anaemia and platelet as well as liver issues. - Mkini