Soon after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the suspension of all clinical trials for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said Nigeria will continue the trial.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Director-General of the agency, Mojisola Adeyeye, in an interview.
The World Health Organization had resolved to suspend the trial of the anti-malaria drug in coronavirus patients due to safety concerns. Even though President Trump had touted the drug and said he had been taking it, a recent study from The Lancet revealed higher mortality rates among coronavirus patients who took the drug, therefore researchers said they were suspending the solidarity trial.
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus had said; “The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board”.
But Mrs Adeyeye said records have proven that hydroxychloroquine is effective for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, especially those at the mild stage of the virus. According to her; “There is data to prove that hydroxychloroquine worked for many COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we would continue our own clinical trials in Nigeria. Hydroxychloroquine has been proved to work at a mild stage. So the potency depends on the severity of the disease in the patient’s body,” she said.