TRIBUNNEWS.COM – Indonesia and 51 other countries are involved in a World Health Organization (WHO) program to test three new drugs for patients Covid-19 with severe conditions.
The three drugs are artesunate, imatinib, and infliximab.
An independent panel of experts selected these three drugs for their potential to reduce the risk of death in hospitalized patients.
Artesunate is currently used for severe malaria, imatinib for certain cancers, and infliximab for immune system diseases such as Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
“Finding more effective and accessible therapies for COVID-19 patients remains a critical need, and WHO is proud to lead this global effort,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
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The drugs were donated by manufacturers for trials.
The new phase of the trial involved 600 hospitals in 52 countries, 16 more than the initial phase, and thousands of patients.
Besides Indonesia, other countries involved in the new trial include Canada, Finland, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Circumcision testing, imatinib, and infliximab on the patient Covid-19 is the second stage of the Solidarity effort WHO for effective treatment against the deadly disease.
Previously, four drugs were evaluated by the Solidarity trial, which involved nearly 13,000 patients in 500 hospitals in 30 countries.
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