China rejects Trump-touted drug hydroxychloroquine

BEIJING: China has advised against the use of hydroxychloroquine in treating coronavirus patients, a controversial malaria treatment touted by US President Donald Trump as a wonder drug for COVID-19.

However, it has recommended the use of a similar malaria drug called chloroquine, foreign media reported.The recommendations are part of new COVID-19 treatment guidelines released on Wednesday and updated for the first time since March 3.

“Some drugs may demonstrate a certain degree of efficacy for treatment in clinical observation studies but there are no effective antiviral drugs confirmed by double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials,” the National Health Commission said in version eight of the diagnosis and treatment guidelines.

“The use of hydroxychloroquine, or the combined use of it with azithromycin, is not recommended.”But the same guidelines said chloroquine can continue to be usedOther recommended antiviral drugs included interferon and arbidol but ribavirin should be used together with lopinavir or ritonavir, it said.

Remdesivir, an antiviral developed by American pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences and approved by the United States, Europe and Hong Kong for treating Covid-19, is not on the updated list of recommended drugs.

Chinese researchers conducted double-blind controlled trials of remdesivir but found no benefits from the experimental drug, according to a study published in The Lancet in April. The researchers added that the study was limited by the smaller-than-target sample size.

A separate study led by the US government said the drug could shorten the recovery time of patients.Glucocorticoid steroids remain on the list but there is no specific reference to dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid that reduced deaths among severe patients by a third in a large-scale randomised controlled study by Oxford University.China is the first country to recommend the use of chloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients, with top respiratory scientist Zhong Nanshan a strong proponent.