Coronavirus: NAFDAC Insists On Chloroquine Trial

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Coronavirus: NAFDAC Insists On Chloroquine Trial

The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, says NAFDAC will continue its clinical trial of chloroquine for COVID-19 treatment.

Speaking yesterday on a TVC programme, Adeyeye said Nigeria believed in hydroxychloroquine and that there was data to prove that it was effective in treating COVID-19 patients, particularly at the mild stage of the disease.

She had in March announced that NAFDAC approved the production of chloroquine for clinical trials on COVID-19.

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus, had at a press conference in Geneva on Monday announced that the WHO “temporarily” suspended clinical trials of hydroxychloriquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

He had explained that the WHO was concerned after a study from the Lancet published last Friday revealed high death rates among COVID-19 patients who took hydroxychloriquine. But the NAFDAC DG said yesterday that: “We would continue our own clinical trials in Nigeria. Hydroxychloroquine has been proved to work at a mild stage. So, the potency depends on the severity of the disease in the patient’s body.