米、コロナ支援でトランプ氏推奨の未承認薬をブラジルに

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米国は新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）に対する治療薬として、抗マラリア薬「ヒドロキシクロロキン（HCQ）」服用量200万回分をブラジルに送った。ホワイトハウスが先月31日、明らかにした。だが同薬の新型コロナウイルス感染症に対する効果はまだ証明されていない。（写真はジャイル・ボルソナロ・ブラジル大統領〈右〉とドナルド・トランプ米大統領）
　ホワイトハウスは声明で「ＨＣＱはブラジルの看護師、医師、医療従事者を同ウイルスから守る予防薬として使用される。またブラジルの感染者の治療薬として使用される」と発表。「われわれは無作為化対照臨床試験（ＲＣＴ）を含めた、米ブラジル合同研究を行うことを発表する」としている。間もなく人工呼吸器１０００台を送ることも明らかにした。
　ブラジルは感染者が５０万人近く確認されており、南米の感染拡大の中心地となっている。
　ドナルド・トランプ米大統領はヒドロキシクロロキンのファンだと公言している。同薬は抗マラリア薬として、また狼瘡（ろうそう）やリウマチ性関節炎の治療薬として何十年も使用されている。トランプ氏は以前に、この薬を新型コロナウイルス感染予防のため服用していると語っていた。
　ヒドロキシクロロキンの新型コロナウイルス感染症治療や予防の効果については、今のところ臨床調査における究極の判断基準とされるＲＣＴによる証拠がない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/01-13:16）

The United States has delivered two million doses of the antimalarial medicine hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to Brazil to fight COVID-19, the White House said Sunday, though the drug has not been proven effective against the coronavirus.
HCQ will be used as a prophylactic to help defend Brazil's nurses, doctors, and healthcare professionals against the virus. It will also be used as a therapeutic to treat Brazilians who become infected, a statement said.
It said the US would soon also send 1,000 ventilators to Brazil, the epicenter of South America's outbreak with nearly 500,000 confirmed cases.
We are also announcing a joint United States-Brazilian research effort that will include randomized controlled clinical trials, it added.
President Donald Trump is an outspoken fan of HCQ, which has been used to treat malaria for decades as well as the autoimmune disorders lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
He has previously said he is taking it himself in the hope of avoiding infection with the virus.
There is currently no evidence from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) -- considered the gold standard of clinical investigation -- for HCQ's use either to treat or prevent COVID-19.
There are also fears that it may in fact worsen coronavirus patient's outcomes.
A paper published in The Lancet last week concluded that treating people who have Covid-19 with hydroxychloroquine and a related compound chloroquine did not help them and might have increased the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and death.
The study was not an RCT, and more than 100 clinicians and scientists have since questioned the authenticity of a hospital database it relied on to reach its conclusions.
HCQ has been granted an emergency use authorization for COVID-19 in the US for patients under close heart monitoring.
The Food and Drug Administration has asked doctors not to prescribe it widely or outside of several clinical trials that are underway.
Like Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is an advocate of HCQ and has sacked two health ministers who clashed with him over his desire to expand its use.
Despite losing nearly 30,000 people to the virus, Bolsonaro has railed against the tyranny of lockdowns and called for the country's soccer season to resume.
The US has lost more than 106,000 people to the virus, by far the country with the highest number of deaths.
The World Health Organization said last week it was temporarily halting testing of the HCQ for COVID-19 over growing safety concerns, including those raised in The Lancet paper.