ZURICH : Novartis has won the go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct a randomized trial of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 disease, the Swiss drugmaker said on Monday, to see if it helps patients.
The decades-old generic medicine got FDA emergency use authorization this month for its unapproved use for coronavirus disease, but so far there is no scientific proof it works.
There are currently no approved Covid-19 medicines. Novartis plans to start recruiting 440 patients for its Phase III, or late-stage, trial within weeks at more than a dozen US sites.
Results will be reported as soon as possible, the company added. Use of the drug, also approved to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, has soared