Henry Ford Health System will lead the nation’s first study on the effects of hydroxychloroquine in preventing COVID-19.

Detroit officials have submitted an 8-week study for FDA approval that would test whether the drug hydroxychloroquine is effective in preventing the coronavirus, Mayor Mike Duggan announced Thursday.

Hydroxychloroquine is an arthritis medicine that also can be used to prevent malaria, and has also been used to treat Lupus, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. It’s available by prescription only and sold under the brand name Plaquenil.

Potentially beginning as early as next week, the study, called WHIP COVID-19 Study, will test 3,000 healthcare workers and first responders, including police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and bus drivers. Volunteers take pills for eight weeks and be divided into three groups: a once-a-week dose of hydroxychloroquine, a once-a-day dose, or a placebo (sugar pill without active ingredients.)

Participants will be contacted in Week 4 and Week 8 and checked for COVID-19 symptoms. At the end of the study, they will have their blood drawn again. Results among the three groups will be compared to see if the drug had any effects in preventing the coronavirus.

“We're going to be fighting the coronavirus for months at least to come - we need to have tools to fight back,” he said.

Officials are accepting volunteers from any area of Metro Detroit.

Dr. Bill O'Neill of Henry Ford Health System confirmed these doses, 200 mg a day for 8 weeks, will not have adverse health effects – the drug has been approved for over 70 years.

“There’s a very good, well-established safety protocol,” he said, adding there are three other similar studies in this country.

– SAUCE –

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/henry-ford-health-to-study-if-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-could-prevent-covid-19