Paris — France has banned the use of the controversial anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat people with COVID-19, the diseased caused by the new coronavirus.
The findings also prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to announce Monday the temporary suspension of the malaria drug from a global trial looking at various potential COVID-19 treatments, pending a safety review.
An early study released in early April in the southern city of Nice found that 43 cases of heart trouble were linked to use of the drug.
Didier Raoult in Marseille, the French government decided at the end of March to allow the use of the drug in 16 clinical trials, and in the treatment of seriously ill, hospitalized patients.
Italy and Belgium, which have also dealt with serious coronavirus outbreaks and had authorized use of hydroxychloroquine in severely ill patients under close hospital supervision, have both told doctors to suspended use of the drug, apart from in clinical trials, in the wake of the Lancet report.
Hydroxychloroquine is derived from the anti-malaria drug chloroquine and is used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where that disease remains sensitive to chloroquine.
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