WHO’s stay on HCQ trials was knee-jerk reaction: CSIR chief

NEW DELHI: A day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed resuming trials of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for treatment of Covid-19 patients, chief of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Shekhar C Mande on Thursday welcomed the move saying “the suspension of the trial was based on a study which had several limitations”.
Noting that the WHO’s decision was a “knee-jerk” reaction, Mande told TOI that the global health body should have first analysed the data on its own before taking a decision on suspending the trial. “The WHO did take the decision on the basis of the study, published in the Lancet, whose authors have themselves acknowledged several limitations in the article,” said Mande who along with two leading Indian scientists — Anurag Agarwal of Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and Rajeeva Karandikar of Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) - had last week questioned the WHO’s decision on suspending trials of HCQ for Covid-19 patients.
They had written a joint note WHO’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, expressing concern over the decision to suspend the trial and even flagged the shortcomings of the study to the Lancet’s Editor-in-Chief.
Asked about the Lancet’s response, Mande said the publication had responded and asked scientists to send it a formal clarification on the study. In their letter to WHO, Mande and his fellow Indian scientists had flagged many inconsistencies in the Lancet study. In fact, hundreds of scientists from across the globe had written to WHO, noting their concern on suspension of the trials of HCQ.
“Based on available data, the Covid-19 Solidarity Trial Data Safety & Monitoring Committee recommended there are no reasons to modify the trial protocol. The Executive Group endorsed the continuation of all arms of the trial, including the use of hydroxychloroquine,” tweeted WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday.