The World Health Organisation (WHO)
should have enough information in 24 hours to decide whether to
continue suspending its trial of hydroxychloroquine for use
against coronavirus, its chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said
on Monday.
Her comments come a week after the UN body paused its large
study of the anti-malarial drug to treat Covid-19 due to
concerns it increased death rates and irregular heartbeats in
patients.
The move prompted several European governments to ban the
use of the drug, also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and
lupus and promoted by US President Donald Trump to help combat
the disease.
Sanofi on Friday temporarily stopped recruiting
new Covid-19 patients for its two clinical trials of the drug
and said it would no longer supply it to treat Covid-19 until
safety concerns are cleared up.