Not enough patients are enrolling in clinical trials
CONTROVERSIAL DRUG. This file photograph taken on May 20, 2020, shows a bottle and pills of Hydroxychloroquine as they sit on a counter at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah. Photo by George Frey / AFPSwiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis has decided to halt a clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, citing problems in recruiting enough patients for the study of the controversial drug.
"Novartis has made the decision to stop and discontinue its sponsored HCQ clinical trial for COVID-19 due to acute enrolment challenges that have made trial completion infeasible," the company said in a statement late Friday, June 19. This problem"made it unlikely that the clinical team will be able to collect meaningful data in a reasonable timeframe," it said.Hydroxychloroquine and its related compound chloroquine have traditionally been used to treat malaria and with a known anti-viral potential was seen as a possible treatment in the early days of the pandemic.
In April, Novartis said it would sponsor a Phase III clinical trial of around 440 patients in the US using hydroxychloroquine to treat patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration . But earlier this month, the US authorities suspended its use and this week the World Health Organization said
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