NIH and Novartis halt hydroxychloroquine trials in COVID-19

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX) have both stopped trials of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19.

Hydroxychloroquine was found to be very unlikely to be beneficial among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the NIH’s ORCHID study, according the trial’s data and safety monitoring board.

The blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial aimed to enroll more than 500 adults who are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 or in an emergency department with anticipated hospitalization. More than 470 were enrolled at the time of study’s closure.