Hydroxychloroquine is a well-known drug that is used in the therapy and prophylaxis of malaria. The active ingredient is also being used increasingly in the case of coronavirus disease Covid-19. So far, however, the scientific studies on this have been poor.
The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to wait for further studies before making a recommendation. The U.S. government has already placed a large order and Luxembourg has now included the drug in its official policy on the treatment of Covid-19. Hardly any other drug plays such a major role in the coronavirus debate as hydroxychloroquine. However, despite increasing studies, the effectiveness could not be scientifically proven.
All of France has been discussing the benefits of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine since the end of February. The reason: The University Hospital in Marseille published a short video by Dr. Didier Raoult, in which the doctor introduced chloroquine as a drug against the coronavirus. The infectiologist and microbiologist referred to a study from China that was able to determine “in vitro” that chloroquine was effective against Sars-CoV-2. This laboratory experiment was enough to describe the new corona virus as the “easiest to treat respiratory disease”.
One drug for everything – in the laboratory
In fact, the drug in the petri dish is considered effective for several diseases. Scientists have already achieved good results in the laboratory with the SARS virus. The same applies to animal experiments that were infected with the Zika virus. In the tests, the drug is said to increase the zinc concentration within the cells. The zinc should then inhibit the virus.
What works in the laboratory does not necessarily have to be effective in the human body. “We swallow it and have it in the intestine or we infuse it, then we have it in the blood. But the cells of the lungs, where the virus replicates, have to absorb this substance, ”said Christian Drosten in the NDR podcast. In short: it is not always clear how the active ingredient of a drug should get where it should work. According to the Berlin Charité virologist, the metabolism of a cell in a cell culture dish can only be compared to a limited extent with cells of the human body. This requires clinical tests.
How a drug is tested
In these tests, chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine have a clear advantage. The active ingredients, which are almost identical at the molecular level, have already been approved on the market. In contrast to new drugs, they do not have to go through a long testing phase. The side effects are already known. They can therefore be used and tested faster for use against new viruses.
To test the effect, patients are randomly divided into two representative groups, one of which is treated with medication and the other with a placebo. Neither doctor nor patient should know who the actual medication is being administered …
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