India: HCQ to be used with full responsibility

| | New Delhi
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India: HCQ to be used with full responsibility

Friday, 29 May 2020 | PNS | New Delhi

Even as Italy, Belgium and France have stopped usage of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) amid WHO’s concerns over its safety aspects, India on Thursday reiterated that it will continue to use it as it has been recommended as prophylaxis with full responsibility, and as per the clinical protocol the drug might be used for therapeutics also.

“Several trials have been done on the use of HCQ, it is also being done in India. Our experience so far is that as per the current guidelines for its use by frontline workers, its benefits outweigh any risks. More research will throw light on new aspects, on the basis of which further decisions will be taken,” said Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog member, at a routine Press briefing here.

Paul also mentioned a few more medicines and therapies, which are in advance stage of trial for Covid-19 which has infected over 1.60 lakhs and killed over 4,000 people.

He said,”On the drug front, we tried many medicines, including oral medicine Favipiravir, plant-based medicine ACQH, Itolizumab (Also used for arthritis) BCG vaccine  Micro-Bacterium W, Convalescent Plasma, Arbidol, and HCQ besides Ramdesivir. Eight vaccine candidates are being tried.”

ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava too had said India would continue to use HCQ as prophylaxis despite its suspension from the solidarity trial of Covid-19. Scientists are studying these drugs and therapies, both in and out of the solidarity trial.

On May 26, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had announced “a temporary pause” in clinical trial of HCQ on Covid-19 patients, while the safety data of the anti-malaria drug was being reviewed.

This had prompted the three of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus infections to put  a break on the large trial of the drug .   

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