Note from Unicamp
The State University of Campinas (Unicamp) reiterates its commitment to ethics and science in the search for solutions that provide adequate patient care, accurate diagnosis and the best therapy, aiming to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a tireless search for effective medicines to treat patients all over the world, including in Brazil. This search must be guided exclusively by research conducted following well-established scientific methods, with clear protocols and subordinated to ethical values. Thus, with regard to statements about the use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for the treatment of COVID-19, alone or in association with azithromycin (HCQ + AZT), Unicamp, listening to experts in the field, from within and from outside the institution, and largely supported by scientific studies on the subject, corroborates the recommendations of health bodies and the global medical-scientific community that there is, to date, insufficient scientific evidence based on clinical trials with humans on the effectiveness of these medicines for the treatment of the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
As reiterated in an editorial dated April 08, 2020 in the British Medical Journal, one of the most respected scientific publications in the medical field in the world, the use of chloroquine and its derivatives in COVID-19 is premature and potentially harmful due to side effects widely known by medical community.
Medicines such as HCQ have been effectively used for patients with malaria or autoimmune diseases. Currently, administration of chloroquine and its derivatives for COVID-19 should only occur in controlled clinical trials for hospitalized patients under strict and intensive medical supervision. There is, therefore, no formal indication from the most respected public health bodies in Brazil and abroad for the prophylactic or domestic use of these drugs without strict supervision, medical responsibility and explicit agreement from patients.
Expressions of support for the use of HCQ for COVID-19 are based on weak evidence, not supported by solid investigations that must be based on controlled clinical trials. The university, as a center of knowledge, must always recommend recommendations and proposals that value scientific reason rather than intuitive solutions and beliefs, which, despite being generally well-intentioned, may eventually be mistaken.
Rectory
Campinas, April 09, 2020.
