Hydroxychloroquine trial begins as UK bulk-buys drug taken by Trump as unproven coronavirus protection

British government offers pharmaceutical companies contract to supply millions of tablets in case drug becomes recognised as effective treatment

A global trial is to begin in the UK of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine which has been endorsed by Donald Trump as a Covid-19 preventative.

On Thursday, British Health workers in Brighton and Oxford who are in regular contact with Covid-19 patients will be enrolled in the three month programme, which will either give them active versions of the drug, or a placebo.

In Asia, participants in the trial will be given chloroquine or a placebo.

The trial aims to test whether use of the drugs can prevent those exposed to the virus from going on to contract the disease.

Hydroxychloroquine, a derivative of chloroquine, is normally used for patients with acute malaria and specific types of arthritis. It can reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling – and is widely used to treat rheumatic diseases.

In the UK the trial will involve workers at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The British government has said currently neither chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are licensed to treat coronavirus-related symptoms or prevent infection.

It said the drugs should not be used outside ongoing clinical trials which have reached no conclusions over the safety and effectiveness of the medicine on coronavirus.

But despite the warnings, it is seeking to bulk-buy the drug in case it is an effective treatment.

The government has invited pharmaceutical companies to supply 16 million tablets between June 2020 and January 2021 as part of a £35m contract described as an “open opportunity” put out to tender last week, The Guardian reports.

The Department of Health said it had procured various drugs, including hydroxychloroquine, to support clinical trials aiming to establish if any existing medicines are effective against Covid-19.

This week Mr Trump told reporters he had been taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite his own public health officials warning it may be unsafe.

“I’m taking it for about a week and a half now and I’m still here, I’m still here,” he said.

“I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy,“ he said, adding: “What do you have to lose?”

A spokesperson for Boris Johnson subsequently sought to distance the UK government from Mr Trump’s decision, telling reporters on Tuesday: “It’s not something which our own medical experts are recommending.”

Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, told the Press Association: “Hydroxychloroquine is not licensed for the treatment or prevention of Covid-19 by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), or any other agency.

“In fact the weight of evidence from most recent patient trials shows it to be ineffective, with the potential for adverse side effects including those affecting the heart.”

Dr Griffin said Mr Trump’s decision to take the drug at this stage was “a staggering, irresponsible act that could very well also amount to self-harm”.

He said hydroxychloroquine was prescribed and monitored carefully due to potential side effects, and as such people following Mr Trump’s example could “endanger themselves”.

Former government chief scientific adviser Sir David King, said of Mr Trump: “Every word he says should be ignored in terms of advice.

“I’m sorry but these are not the pronouncements of a person who is listening to the scientists. He is making it up as he goes along.”

However, following a small uncontrolled trial in France which appeared to show positive results, with patients showing a reduced viral load after taking hydroxychloroquine, there has been greater focus on the drug.

Though another test in France failed to replicate the earlier trial, Chinese scientists have also recently said hydroxychloroquine is among the drugs being investigated as a Covid-19 treatment based on promising lab results.

However, they said their lab results have not been proven in clinical trials with coronavirus patients yet.

The World Health Organisation has listed chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine among the drugs being prioritised under its global Solidarity Trial – an international study bringing together various nations’ efforts to test potential coronavirus treatments.

Last month the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) said it was aware of 142 trials around the world involving chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, alone, or in combination.

One such study involves a combination of hydroxychloroquine, zinc and azithromycin – an antibiotic – in a trial aiming to test patients at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital in London.

The University of Minnesota in the US has also launched a clinical trial on whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent people catching coronavirus.

Additional reporting by PA