US sends Brazil 2 million HCQ doses

Washington, June 1 (IANS) The US has sent 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to Brazil, the two governments have confirmed, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) halted the anti-malaria drug's clinical trials over safety concerns."The US will also soon be sending 1,000 ventilators to Brazil," a joint statement said which was released by the White House on Sunday.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recently that a clinical trial of HCQ on COVID-19 patients came to "a temporary pause" while the safety data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, reports Xinhua news agency.The Lancet medical journal has published an observational study on HCQ and chloroquine, in which the authors of the study reported that among patients receiving either of the drugs, when used alone or with a macrolide, they estimated a higher mortality rate.
--IANS ksk/