Skip to main content

Novartis backs hydroxychloroquine trial in COVID-19 fight

Novartis backs hydroxychloroquine trial in COVID-19 fight

Signage is displayed on the exterior of the Novartis AG Institutes for BioMedical Research building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. PHOTO: Scott Eisen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis said Monday it would sponsor a clinical trial in the US using hydroxychloroquine to treat patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
Novartis said it had reached an agreement with the US food and Drug Administration (FDA) to go ahead with a phase III clinical trial with around 440 patients to evaluate whether the drug is efficient in treating coronavirus, which has killed more than 164,000 people worldwide in a matter of months.
The company said its Sandoz division would supply the drugs needed for the trial, which would be conducted at more than a dozen sites in the United States starting within the next few weeks.
Hydroxychloroquine has been used for decades against malaria and is being tested worldwide against the virus along with another anti-malarial drug, chloroquine.
Both have potentially serious side effects, and a range of clinical trials are now underway to determine their efficacy and safety.
“We recognise the importance of answering the scientific question of whether hydroxychloroquine will be beneficial for patients with COVID-19 disease,” John Tsai, Novartis Chief Medical Officer said in the statement.
“We mobilised quickly to address this question in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study,” he added.
Hydroxychloroquine has shown early promise against COVID-19 in small-scale studies in France and China to reduce virus levels among people badly infected.
US President Donald Trump has touted it as a coronavirus treatment and in the US a limited emergency-use authorisation has been granted to the drug.
But many scientists are urging caution until larger trials show whether it is safe and effective.
Novartis said that patients in its trial would be randomised into three groups, with the first group receiving hydroxychloroquine, the second receiving the drug combined with an antibiotic therapy, and the third group receiving a placebo.
“Researchers at the company compressed months of work into a few weeks to design the large clinical trial in order to rapidly respond to the need for COVID-19 disease treatments,” the company said.
Novartis said it would donate 130 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine to supply global clinical research efforts if the medicine is proven beneficial against COVID-19.
It also said it would open up its intellectual property rights relating to the use of hydroxychloroquine in a bid to facilitate access to the drug if it proves beneficial.
The company said it planned to sponsor or co-sponsor clinical trials to study the benefits of two other drugs, ruxolitinib, which is sold under the brand name Javaki, and canakinumab, commercialised as Ilaris, for patients hospitalised with COVID-19


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

See how Tinubu reacts to #EndSARS protests, says police reforms has begun

 See how Tinubu reacts to #EndSARS protests, says police reforms has begun National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu has said the protest against police brutality in Nigeria is within the constitutional right of Nigerians. “Asiwaju Tinubu believes in the right of Nigerians to freedom of expression, assembly, and protest where and when necessary, he has always canvassed the need for people to explore peaceful channels to ventilate their views and demands,” Tinubu said in a statement by his media aide Tunde Rahman. “He believes the #EndSARS protesters have made their demands, which the Federal Government is studying.” Tinubu’s statement comes after being alleged of being one of the sponsors of the ongoing nationwide protest against brutality, extortion, harassment and extrajudicial killing by police personnel. The Cattle’s Breeders Association known as Miyetti Allah had earlier accused Tinubu of using the protest to distort the administration of President Muh...
Post a Comment
Read more

President Trump vetoes congressional resolution limiting his military authority against Iran

President Trump vetoes congressional resolution limiting his military authority against Iran US President Donald Trump, has vetoed the Iran War Powers resolution agreed by the Senate and House of Representatives, calling it a "very insulting resolution" and argued the move of the Lawmakers was "based on misunderstandings of facts and law" in a statement. The bipartisan resolution was created to limit Trump's authority to use military force against Iran without congressional approval, after the President's decision to order a strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in January. Before a resolution is made a law in the US, the Senate, House of Reps have to vote on it, when an agreement is reached it is then sent to the White House for the President to sign. Presidents sometimes veto laws, but the US Senate must have over 2/3rds of votes to override a President's veto, a scenario unlikely to occur. Trump in a statement issued by the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pompeo presses China but acknowledges ‘no certainty’ virus from lab

Pompeo presses China but acknowledges ‘no certainty’ virus from lab US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday renewed his widely contested charge that the coronavirus pandemic likely originated in a Chinese laboratory, but acknowledged there was no certainty. Pompeo renewed his call for global pressure on China to provide more data on the origins of the illness, which has killed more than 250,000 people worldwide and hobbled the global economy. “We don’t have certainty, and there is significant evidence that this came from the laboratory. Those statements can both be true,” the former CIA chief told reporters when pressed on his statements. “The American people remain at risk because we do not know … whether it began in the lab or whether it began someplace else,” he said. “There’s an easy way to find out the answer to that — transparency, openness — the kinds of things that nations do when they really want to be part of solving a global pandemic.” Pompeo  ha...
Post a Comment
Read more