Source: Times Now News Photo Credit: Getty Images
A group of doctors has claimed that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) does help patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus infection. Urging wide use of the drug to treat COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the medics said in a report that hydroxychloroquine could help increase patients’ chances of recovery and survival by about 90 per cent.
Earlier, President Donal Trump hailed the drug as a potential ‘game-changer’ for COVID-19. In India, hydroxychloroquine is being given to healthcare workers and those caring for COVID-19 patients. The health ministry also recommended the use of the drug along with azithromycin for critically ill COVID-19 patients requiring ICU management.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) said data on 2, 333 COVID-19 patients shows hydroxychloroquine helped 91 per cent of patients recover. Patients who were treated with HCQ also spent less time in the hospital than those who were administered other medications such as antiviral drug Avigan, said the doctors in their letter to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.
The group of physicians now advised that doctors should not should not wait for results of gold standard tests of the drug to use the medication of COVID-19 patients. They urged that medics should instead base their use of the drug on reasonable interpretations of limited available data.
“Waiting for fixed randomized controlled trials during a pandemic when time is of the essence, a Bayesian approach to the assessment of diagnostic and therapeutic probabilities is wise and efficient and will save time, money and lives if the physicians are given a chance to retain their autonomy and practice medicine to the best of their abilities,” the group wrote.
The doctors presented data on coronavirus patients treated with hydroxychloroquine in China, France, South Korea, Algeria, and the US. They also dismissed those preliminary results and claimed that those 52 people who died were very sick, claiming that their outcomes are not ‘indicative’ of effects of hydroxychloroquine. The doctors claimed that the drug would work better on patients with less critical illness.
Presenting their findings, the group also stated that peer-reviewed studies published from January through April 20, this year, show clear and convincing evidence that hydroxychloroquine may be beneficial in COVID-19, especially when used early.
Read the original article here: https://www.timesnownews.com/health/article/antimalarial-drug-hydroxychloroquine-drug-does-help-91-per-cent-of-covid19-patients-claim-us-doctors/
Read the letter from AAPS to to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey here: https://aapsonline.org/aaps-letter-asking-gov-ducey-to-rescind-executive-order-concerning-hydroxychloroquine-in-covid-19/