The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) warned on Monday March 30 that treatments tested against Covid-19 could cause serious side effects and should not be ” never “ be used in self-medication. ” Thirty “ serious adverse reactions have so far been reported in patients with coronavirus treated with Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) but also other drugs such as Kaletra (an antiretroviral combining lopinavir / ritonavir), said Dominique Martin, the director general of the ANSM. Three patients died.
Reinforced surveillance
These adverse reactions have been reported mainly to the hospital and analyzes are still underway to verify whether the reported events are attributable to the treatments received by the patients or not, he said, hoping for initial conclusions. ” by the end of the week “.
The ANSM placed under “Enhanced surveillance” for the past two weeks all the treatments experienced in the treatment of Covid-19, “Especially when used outside of clinical trials (chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, lopinavir / ritonavir, tocilizumab, colchicine)”. “It is quite normal that we should try treatments, given the circumstances, but that does not prevent us from having to exercise surveillance, pharmacovigilance on these products”, according to Dominique Martin.
Risks of “heart attack”
In this regard, hydroxychloroquine coupled with the antibiotic azithromycin, in the spotlight since Professor Didier Raoult published two controversial studies concluding according to him to their “Efficiency” against the coronavirus, deserves a ” particular attention “, observes the director general of ANSM. Their association “Potentiates the risk” heart rhythm disorder “Which can lead to a heart attack”he said. And this is “Even more true in patients with Covid”, due to metabolic disorders specific to this disease.
Several treatments for coronavirus are currently undergoing clinical trials to assess their effectiveness and a decree has extended their use to other patients in serious condition in the hospital.
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