The European Medicines Agency warns of the possible side effects of taking chloroquine and adds that there is no evidence of the beneficial effects of these drugs against the coronavirus.
- The European Medicines Agency intervenes in the debate on chloroquine
- This agency considers that the data from clinical studies are “very limited” and “inconclusive on the beneficial effects”
Touted by Professor Didier Raoult and tested at European level through the Discovery trial, hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial treatment based on chloroquine, has been singled out by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The latter warns against the side effects of the drug which can be fatal. She adds that there is no evidence of the allegedly beneficial effects of this treatment.
A US study did not show benefit with hydroxychloroquine
The use of chloroquine would cause heart problems, warns the European Medicines Agency. “Recent studies have reported serious, and in some cases fatal, heart rhythm problems with chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, especially when taken in high doses or in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin.describes the EMA in a communicated. These treatments are likely to cause liver and kidney problems, damage to nerve cells that can cause seizures and low blood sugar, the agency warns.
In addition, the EMA questions the use of this treatment to treat Covid-19. According to her, the data from clinical studies of these treatments are “still very limited and inconclusive and the beneficial effects of these drugs on Covid-19 disease have not been demonstrated”. In the United States, results published Tuesday from the largest study to date showed no benefit of hydroxychloroquine against disease due to the new coronavirus compared to standard treatment. On the contrary, it showed an excess mortality with the use of hydroxychloroquine, alone or combined with azithromycin.
Several cases of heart problems
These criticisms are not new. Mediapart noted on April 21 83 cases of cardiac adverse effects and three deaths, all attributable to the use of hydroxychloroquine treatment. “Hydroxychloroquine can cause very specific heart problems, such as torsades de pointes. These abnormalities can progress to cardiac arrest”, develops Professor Milou-Daniel Drici, director of the Nice regional pharmacovigilance center, to Mediapart. People with heart rhythm disturbances, such as syncope, have also been identified. Even more serious, Professor François-Xavier Lescure, infectious disease specialist at the Bichat hospital of the AP-HP, adds to the news site that the problem with this drug is that “clinically, you don’t see anything coming until you have a serious heart condition like torsade de pointes, or even cardiac arrest. It’s a trap.”
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