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The antimalaria drug that President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted will be put to the test.
Novartis NOVN, +0.61% NVS, +1.99%, the Swiss pharmaceutical, said it would conduct a Phase III clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 disease, after reaching an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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The deadly coronavirus that has killed more than 165,000 people doesn’t have any proven treatment, though doctors globally have tried hydroxychloroquine as one measure. One person died after consuming fish cleaner that contains the chemical.
Another drug from Gilead Sciences GILD, +9.73% was reported to have success in treating patients at a Chicago hospital, though the company said it has not completed its trial.
The Novartis trial of hydroxychloroquine will be of approximately 440 patients at more than a dozen sites in the U.S.
The first group or arm will receive hydroxychloroquine. The second group will receive hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin, which is an antibiotic therapy. The third group will receive a placebo.
Novartis said it plans to begin enrollment for this study within the next few weeks and is committed to reporting results as soon as possible.
It won’t be a big money winner for the company, regardless of results.
Novartis said it would make its hydroxychloroquine intellectual property available to support broad access if the medicine is approved for COVID-19. Novartis also said it would donate up to 130 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine to supply global clinical research efforts in the event the medicine is proven beneficial for treatment of COVID-19, and said its generics arm Sandoz has already donated 30 million tablets to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
U.S.-listed Novartis shares have dropped 6% this year, while the S&P 500 SPX, +2.67% has dropped 11%.
