WHO halts hydroxychloroquine, HIV drugs in COVID-19 trials

GENEVA—The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday it was discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and combination HIV drug lopinavir-ritonavir in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 after they failed to reduce mortality.

The setback came as the WHO also reported more than 200,000 new cases globally of the disease for the first time in a single day. The United States accounted for 53,213 of the total 212,326 new cases recorded on Friday, the WHO said. (See related story in World, Page A10.)

“These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir-ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” the WHO said in a statement, referring to large multicountry trials that the agency is leading.

Philippines follows

Following the WHO announcement, the Philippines, a participant in Solidarity, said it would stop giving lopinavir-ritonavir to hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

“Based on the recent evidence and recommendations from our experts, we will be stopping the use of lopinavir and ritonavir among hospitalized patients,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters on Sunday.

“We have already discontinued hydroxychloroquine early on when the evidence for this came out,” Vergeire said.

But patients who have started using lopinavir and ritonavir may complete the whole course of the treatment or opt to discontinue, she said.

The WHO said the decision, taken on the recommendation of Solidarity’s international steering committee, would not affect other studies where those drugs were used for nonhospitalized patients or as a prophylaxis.

Another branch of the WHO-led trial is looking at the potential effect of Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir on COVID-19. The European Commission on Friday gave remdesivir conditional approval for use after being shown to shorten hospital recovery times.

Five branches

The Solidarity trial started out with five branches looking at possible treatment approaches to COVID-19: standard care, remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir-ritonavir, and lopinavir-ritonavir combined with interferon.

Only the Japanese-initiated remdesivir has shown promise—reducing patients’ recovery time—and received government approval for treating COVID-19.

In the Philippines, Dr. Eric Domingo, director general of the Food and Drug Administration, said remdesivir would be used as an investigational drug, as it was not yet registered in the country.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Friday that nearly 5,500 patients in 39 countries had been recruited so far into its clinical trials and that interim results were expected within two weeks.

Some 18 experimental COVID-19 vaccines are being tested on humans among nearly 150 treatments under development.

Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, said on Friday that it would be unwise to predict when a vaccine could be ready. While a vaccine candidate might show its effectiveness by year’s end, the question was how soon it could then be mass-produced, he said.

—Tina G. Santos and the wires