SARGODHA: As part of efforts to discover reliable treatment for Covid-19, the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore, on Wednesday launched ‘Landmark National Drug Trial: PROTECT’ at University of Sargodha (UoS).

The trial named PROTECT (Pakistan Randomised Observational Trial to Evaluate Coronavirus Treatment) aims at evaluating how hydroxychloroquine can be used to treat coronavirus alone or with other medicines.

UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Javed Akram briefed the meeting held at Syndicate Hall of UoS. The meeting was attended by Vice Chancellor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad, Sargodha Medical College (SMC) Principal Dr Humaira Akram, MS DHQ Hospital Dr Ghulam Shabbir, and other senior medical specialists.

Sharing the final version of PROTECT with 550 subjects, the UHS VC claimed that the drug trial was the biggest trial being carried on Covid-19/SARS COV 2. In this research centre, doctors from across Pakistan and other countries will conduct research on the genotype of the virus along with the mutations in it.

Prof Dr Javed Akram briefed the meeting about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine phosphate/sulfate (200 mg orally 8hr thrice a day for 5 days) vs oseltamivir (75 mg orally twice a day for 5 days) vs azithromycin (500 mg orally daily on day 1, followed by 250 mg orally twice a day on days 2-5) alone and in combination (in all seven groups), in clearing the coronavirus nucleic acid from throat and nasal swab on day 7 of follow-up.

“The drug trial is set to be completed in two weeks and everyone is quite hopeful of successful results,” he said adding that the Punjab governor has also promised to implement the positive result of these researches not only in the province but also across the country.

On the occasion, Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad said the success of the drug trial would be a ray of hope in the current situation. The SMC doctors and other staff were already working in very vulnerable circumstances as frontline soldiers and they would also play their due role in making PROTECT successful, he added.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2020