Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has revealed that it is following U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead on experimenting with hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus preventative.
The state-run, socialised healthcare provider will be giving hydroxychloroquine to as many as 10,000 health workers at at least 20 hospitals as part of a clinical trial led by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (Moru), to confirm anecdotal evidence that it can prevent people from catching the Chinese virus.
The announcement may give satisfaction to President Trump, who was slammed by left-liberal politicians and commentators when he revealed that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a possible preventative.
The American leader told reporters on Monday that they would “be surprised at how many people are taking [hydroxychloroquine], especially the frontline workers, before you catch it,” before revealing that he is taking the drug himself.
Chuck Schumer, who leads the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, branded the President “reckless” and claimed that “All the experts say at best it doesn’t help” following the revelation.
“I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group,” added Nancy Pelosi, Schumer’s 80-year-old counterpart in the House of Representatives — before going on to suggest the President should be extra cautious because he is “morbidly obese”.
“Based on the known pharmacology of hydroxychloroquine, coupled with the emerging knowledge surrounding SARS-CoV-2 viral replication and Covid-19 pathophysiology, we were very keen to test the effectiveness of this molecule in a preventative rather than late-stage treatment setting,” said Dr Anthony Grosso of Accord Europe, a British pharmaceuticals manufacturer which has donated more than two million tablets for the NHS study.
“If drugs as well tolerated as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could reduce the chances of catching Covid-19, this would be incredibly valuable,” explained Professor Martin Llewelyn, the study’s British lead.
“If these drugs offer even a degree of protection, it would be a very big deal. We know from previous studies that these drugs have anti-viral activity, but as a treatment it seems to be relatively modest,” he said .
“It seems the best chance of these drugs having a role could be in prevention,” he concluded — exactly the reason President Trump has been using the drug.
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