WHO discontinues trials of hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir in COVID-19 treatment

The Solidarity Trial was established by WHO to find an effective treatment for hospitalised patients infected with the deadly virus.

In a statement on Saturday, the WHO said: "The International Steering Committee formulated the recommendation in light of the evidence for hydroxychloroquine vs standard-of-care and for lopinavir/ritonavir vs standard-of-care from the Solidarity trial interim results, and from a review of the evidence from all trials presented at the 1-2 July WHO Summit on COVID-19 research and innovation."

These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care, WHO stated.

Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect.

"For each of the drugs, the interim results do not provide solid evidence of increased mortality. There were, however, some associated safety signals in the clinical laboratory findings of the add-on Discovery trial, a participant in the Solidarity trial. These will also be reported in the peer-reviewed publication," the statement said.

"This decision applies only to the conduct of the Solidarity trial in hospitalised patients and does not affect the possible evaluation in other studies of hydroxychloroquine or lopinavir/ritonavir in non-hospitalized patients or as pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19," WHO clarified.

The interim Solidarity results are now being readied for peer-reviewed publication.