WHO mass-testing three potential Covid-19 treatments
The World Health Organization has announced major international trials of three drugs to find out whether they improve the condition of hospitalized Covid-19 patients.
Artesunate, imatinib and infliximab will be tested on thousands of volunteer patients in more than 600 hospitals in 52 countries. Artesunate is a treatment for severe malaria; imatinib a drug used for certain cancers and infliximab a treatment for immune system disorders such as Crohn's and rheumatoid arthritis.
The testing of artesunate, imatinib and infliximab on Covid-19 patients is the second stage of the WHO's Solidarity hunt for effective treatments against the killer disease. The coordinated research across dozens of countries allows the trial to assess multiple treatments using a single protocol, thereby generating robust estimates on the effect a drug may have on mortality, including moderate effects, according to the WHO.
Previously, four drugs were evaluated by the Solidarity trial, involving almost 13,000 patients in 500 hospitals across 30 countries.
The provisional results issued in October showed that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir and interferon had little or no effect on hospitalized patients with Covid-19. The final results are due out next month.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4.3 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP, while nearly 204 million cases have been registered.
