At a time when the debate around the use of hydroxy-chloroquine is capturing medical and media space, a new report has been released by four Indian senior medical professionals.
In the last few weeks, a lot of patients of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis who depend heavily on HCQ have complained of drug shortage after the drug was touted as prophylactic "miracle drug" against COVID-19 without any medical proof. FIT had earlier reported about this paucity.
The article published by The Lancet on Friday, 17 April, argue that even for the treatment of COVID-19 diagnosed cases, there is just one study that reported faster nasopharyngeal viral clearance. There is no data for clinical improvement with the help of HCQ. The study further says,
Taking into account the recommendation of the ICMR released on April 11 as reported by FIT, which says HCQ is found to be effective against coronavirus in laboratory studies and in-vivo studies and recommended for selected individuals including asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 and asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases, The Lancet report says,
The report confirms that the shortage of HCQ can lead to preventable morbidity and mortality in India. It also says that if the drug needs to be used, then a clear informed choice must be given to every contact, explaining the scarcity of evidence for its efficacy and its potential risks.
Sahaj Rathi, Pranav Ish, Ashwini Kalantri and Shriprakash Kalantri, four authors of the report, highlight that the outcomes of HCQ usage should be recorded.
It further adds, "If this is not done, the risk–benefit assessment would be skewed, adverse events accepted as collateral damage, and a drug accepted provisionally in a time of crisis could become commonplace as standard of care for a long time to come."
On Saturday, ICMR launched a study on the side effects of HCQ.
Raman R Gangakhedkar, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable diseases at ICMR said the ICMR has launched a study on side effects of HCQ using data of some health care workers who had started taking it.
“The average age of such health workers...is 35 years. The most visible side effect was that of abdominal pain which was reported in ten percent of all those who consumed the medication while nausea-like symptoms were reported in 6 percent. A fewer proportion - around 1.3 percent - had hypoglycemia", he said.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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