COVID-19: Max Healthcare to study role of hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis for healthcare workers

Indian hospital chain Max Healthcare on Thursday announced that it will conduct a large-scale observational study involving the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ as prophylaxis amongst its healthcare workers (HCW’s) including those taking care of COVID-19 patients. 

The study aims to collect sero-epidemiological data from 10,000 healthcare workers from Max Healthcare and Radiant Lifecare and study the effectiveness of HCQS as prophylaxis for COVID-19 infection, Max Healthcare said in a press release. 

The National Taskforce of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for COVID-19 recommends the use of hydroxychloroquine for prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection for asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of and COVID-19 and asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases.

An ICMR advisory issued in this regard said that that the intake of above medicine should not instil a sense of false security and all other prescribed precautions need to be taken. 

According to the proposed study by Max, it will look at a large amount of data from healthcare workers and will try to establish a correlation between the use of drug and coronavirus infections amongst them.

"This study assumes greater importance in the light of the recommendation of the National Task Force for COVID-19 constituted by ICMR regarding the administration of HCQS as prophylaxis in large populations of people at higher risk. Basis the results of this study, Max Healthcare might decide to conduct a randomised control study of the HCQS prophylaxis," it said. 

This is the first such study involving COVID-19 that was approved by ICMR. This is also the first study from India to be registered on clinicaltrials.gov a global registry for clinical trials, the hospital said. 

"Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the clinicians and scientists community have been in a race to research various aspects of this disease to explore possible prevention and treatment aspects. It is only clinical research that will help the prevention of the further spread of this disease. The main aim is to reach out to a maximum number of HCWs (healthcare workers), follow up on incidence of COVID in HCWs and understand the disease pattern in relation to Hydroxy-chloroquine in COVID prevention," Dr Sujeet Jha, Principal Investigator, Principal Director, Endocrinology and Diabetes at Max Healthcare, said. 

Abhay Soi, Chairman Max Healthcare added, "Max Healthcare has always strived to be at the forefront of medical research and this study will greatly add to our knowledge regarding the role of HCQS in preventing COVID-19 amongst the Healthcare Workers (HCW’s) and other higher-risk groups. We are hopeful that this will be our small but significant contribution in the global fight against COVID-19.’’

The results of the study are likely to be published in the next 3 weeks.