Coronavirus – Promising medicine to cure disease failed first tests

The United States of America started testing different kinds of medicines containing the chemical formula of hydroxy-klorokin. The drug was said to be successful and effective, but a recent study reported that it did not help infected people; many died due to the infection caused by the coronavirus. 

Daily News Hungary reported before that the medicine Hungary would like to produce and use to stop the epidemic in the country contains the same material as the ones produced in the USA. Reports advertised this medicine as an effective method against the virus — based on Italian and Chinese experiences — that can be used soon. The Hungarian Government, therefore, banned the export of this material.

Portfolió reported that the hydroxy-klorokin was originally and successfully used to cure malaria. There is still no approved clinical test against the coronavirus. Still, the available studies revealed that with the help of antibiotics, the mentioned malaria-material could be used as a cure. At the beginning of April, the USA announced that only the permission is missing to start the production of the medicine. Nowadays, many studies try to present the available and possible types of drugs and their effectiveness. One of them announced disappointing news. 

The National Institutes of Health (USA) and the University of Virginia revealed that hydroxy-klorokin and its combination with antibiotics did not help those who got infected with the coronavirus, and testing the medicine resulted in the increase in the number of fatal incidents in the country. In the testing procedure, 268 patients only received hydroxy-klorokin, and 27.8% of them died. With antibiotics, this percentage was 22.1, and only 11.4% died of those people who did not receive this medicine. 

According to experts, there is a strong connection between the fatality rate and the usage of the medicine which needs further research and more effective testing. Scientists added that the drug did not reduce the number of people who needed ventilator treatment. In France, the same experiment on 181 patients did not show any anomalies when the medicine was used, although it caused severe arrhythmia to six patients.

Doctors emphasised that these results do not represent the complete failure of the medicine, but further researches and tests are still needed. 

• Coronavirus
• Coronavirus in Hungary

Featured image: Rennes, France. MTI/AP/David Vincent

Source: www.portfolio.hu