Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and its affect on novel coronavirus patients has been a raging topic of discussion for more than two months now. On Friday, one of the biggest Randomised Clinical Trials (RCT) of HCQ concluded that it had no benefit on Covid-19 patients in the UK.

These developments pertain to the second series of RCT results on the anti-malaria drug this week. Earlier, trials by researchers from University of Minnesota, published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) also suggested that HCQ did not have significant impact on Covid-19 patients.

The UK trial had two groups of over 4,500 patients, out of which 1,542 were randomized to HCQ.

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— Martin Landray (@MartinLandray) June 5, 2020

“We have concluded that there is no beneficial effect of hydroxychloroquine in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. We have therefore decided to stop enrolling participants to the hydroxychloroquine arm of the RECOVERY trial with immediate effect,” Professor Peter Horby and Professor Martin Landray said in a statement.

Professors Horby and Landray also said that they are releasing the preliminary results as “they have important implications for patient care and public health”. In addition, the trial investigators concluded that there was no evidence of beneficial effects of HCQ on the duration of stay in hospital or other outcomes.

Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health at University of Oxford, and chief investigator for the trial, said, “Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have received a lot of attention and have been used very widely to treat COVID patients despite the absence of any good evidence. The RECOVERY trial has shown that hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment in patients hospitalised with COVID-19.”

Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, and deputy chief investigator of the trial, Martin Landray said, “This result should change medical practice worldwide and demonstrates the importance of large, randomised trials to inform decisions about both the efficacy and the safety of treatments.”

The trial called “RECOVERY Trial” has been supported by the University of Oxford and UK’s National Institute of Health Research. In March of this year, RECOVERY was established as a randomised clinical trial to test a range of potential drugs for Covid-19, including hydroxycholoroquine. Over 11,000 patients have been randomised to the possible treatment arms including Lopinavir-Ritonavir, Dexamethasone, Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, Tocilizumab and Convalescent plasma treatment.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) continues to recommend the use of HCQ as a prophylaxis for frontline workers. The ICMR has not conducted a randomized clinical trial of the drug so far. US President Donald Trump recently said that he has also been taking the anti-malaria drug.