Barely 24 hours after all clinical trials for hydroxychloroquine have been halted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a possible COVID-19 therapy, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said the trial would continue in Nigeria.
The agency’s Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known Tuesday during an interview on Continental Television (TVC).
On Monday, the UN agency had said it had ‘temporarily’ suspended the hydroxychloroquine clinical trials as a possible COVID-19 treatment for health concerns.
This said the decision followed a report in The Lancet that COVID-19 patients’ use of the drug could increase their risk of dying.
“The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, ” WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus said.
Chloroquine was launched into the 1940s as a synthetic drug. It is a part of a significant group of chemically associated agents known as derivatives of quinolin. Hydroxychloroquine is a similar compound developed in 1955.
Nevertheless, Mrs Adeyeye said there have been confirmed reports that hydroxychloroquine was successful in treating COVID-19 patients.
This she said is most efficient in those who are at the virus’ mild level.
“There is data to prove that hydroxychloroquine worked for many COVID-19 patients.
“Therefore, we would continue our own clinical trials in Nigeria.
“Hydroxychloroquine has been proved to work at a mild stage. So the potency depends on the severity of the disease in the patient’s body,” she said.
Controversy has emerged over the use of chloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients.
Last week President Donald Trump said he had used hydroxychloroquine to safeguard himself from COVID-19.
However, a daily briefing by Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force (PTF) on coronavirus warned Nigerians against using the drug.
It said that the drug was not declared a cure for the disease and further cautioned about the risk of chloroquine poisoning if one indulges with the drug in self-medication.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, who was his state’s COVID-19 index person, had told reporters earlier this month that he was treated with chloroquine, zithromax, and vitamin C during his successful disease treatment.
The governor said the state’s COVID-19 patients should be treated with the drugs henceforth.