Media: In Brazil, stopped the study of drugs against COVID-19 after patient deaths

A group of Brazilian scientists stopped studying the use of chloroquine for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 after 11 study participants died.

As specified, at the time of taking the medicine, originally used to treat malaria, none of the 81 patients had the result of a laboratory analysis for coronavirus.

During treatment, some of them received an increased dose of chloroquine (according to the scheme 600 mg of the substance twice a day for 10 days – 12 g for the whole time), others received a small dose of the same drug (450 mg for five days, the first day – a double dose, only 2.7 g.). In addition to chloroquine, patients also took antibiotics azithromycin and ceftriaxone.

Study termination
According to information, the study had to be stopped on the sixth day due to the death of some patients who received an increased dose of the drug, the rest were transferred to take the drug in a reduced dosage. “The continuation of the study of the use of chloroquine according to the scheme, which provides for the administration of the drug in high doses (12 mg) for 10 days, was considered unsafe,” the scientists concluded, in whose opinion, in severe cases, it is not recommended to resort to such a treatment strategy.

On Sunday, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Academy of Medical Sciences issued a joint statement stating that “until the results of clinical trials <…> involving a relevant number of patients <…> in accordance with advanced scientific methods, the use of [chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine] for the treatment of patients with COVID-19, it should be carried out only as prescribed by the doctor and with the consent of the patients and their families, as well as under the close supervision of physicians. ”

In the document, scientists also noted that the study of these drugs in the fight against the epidemic of coronavirus is unprecedented in terms of the involvement of financial institutions and the scientific community.