Washington DC, June 3: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday said that clinical trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine would resume. "On the basis of the available mortality data... the executive group will communicate with the principal investigators in the trial about resuming the hydroxychloroquine arm," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told in a virtual news briefing. Hydroxychloroquine to be Used as Prophylaxis by RPF Personnel Deployed as COVID-19 Frontline Workers.

The trials were suspended last month pending a safety review in the search for coronavirus treatments. The trials of hydroxychloroquine were suspended after a study in The Lancet indicated that using the drug on COVID-19 patients could increase their chances of dying. Tedros had said that the executive group of the so-called Solidarity Trial, in which hundreds of hospitals across several countries have enrolled patients to test several possible treatments for the novel coronavirus, had as a precaution suspended trials using that drug. What Exactly is Hydroxychloroquine, How Does it Work in Treating COVID-19?

Several countries across the world use hydroxychloriquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19. It is a medication used in the treatment of malaria and certain inflammatory conditions. The antiviral effects of this drug were brought to the fore in the researches during and after the 2003 SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in China. Recent studies show that it has antiviral properties against the SARS-CoV-2 virus too.

Coronavirus, which originated in China’s Wuhan city, has claimed over 350,000 lives globally. Till now, over 6,000,000 people have contracted COVID-19. The United States is the worst affected country with over 1,800,000 coronavirus cases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 03, 2020 10:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).