Defence Force dumps chloroquine trial after volunteers stay clear

A Department of Defence trial of controversial drug chloroquine has been quietly shelved after only 41 Australian Defence Force personnel signed up.

Reservists soldiers from Royal Victoria Regiment 5th/6th Battalion assist police with testing at the Little River Police vehicle checkpoint in Victoria.

A Department of Defence trial of controversial drug chloroquine — championed by US President ­Donald Trump — has been quietly shelved after only 41 Australian Defence Force personnel signed up.

The anti-malarial drug trial, registered in March and intended to run for up to 12 months, had aimed to recruit up to 700 civilian and military healthcare workers.

Defence chiefs were unlikely to continue the trial and no civilians volunteered for the COVID-19 program, requiring people aged between 18 to 64 to provide three blood samples over 14-weeks.

A Department of Defence spokesman said trial enrolment had been put on hold after Queensland’s COVID-19 public health intervention, where the study was being led by the ADF Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute and Defence Materials Technology Centre.

“Defence researchers will analyse the data in due course and are yet to make any preliminary findings in relation to the trial,” the Defence spokesman said.

Australian Defence Force personnel from Adelaide disembarking on a Royal Australian Air Force C-130J Hercules aircraft at Melbourne Jet Base airport on Operation COVID-19 Assist.

“Evidence continues to emerge from other trials around the world about the efficacy of chloroquine for the prevention of COVID-19.

“Defence will continue to monitor and assess the scientific evidence from these other studies, which will inform any decision to recommence enrolment in the trial. Based on the current scientific evidence it is unlikely the trial will continue.”

The COVID-19 trial, listed with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on March 30 and widely criticised by federal MPs and defence veterans, became a priority health response for Defence early in the pandemic.

On May 6, Defence released a fact sheet stressing the importance of the drug trial due to the “urgent need to find a medical countermeasure that protects those on the frontline against COVID-19”. The purpose of the trial was ­focused on “chloroquine’s effectiveness as a preventative measure only, not a treatment”.

“Countries must find a way to protect healthcare workers, who put their wellbeing at risk, to ­ensure health systems can manage the effects from this pandemic,” the Defence fact sheet said. “ADF capabilities are not immune to the threat of COVID-19, as such there is a need for Defence involvement with this trial. We need to maintain a sovereign ­capacity to develop such medical countermeasures in the interests of protecting our nation.”

Defence had come under pressure from opposition defence ­personnel spokesman Shayne Neumann, independent Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie and LNP MP Phillip Thompson over concerns about previous ADF ­anti-malarial trials in the early 2000s, which left veterans with medical issues.

In March, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases called for an immediate stop to prescribing and dispensing hydroxychloroquine linked to COVID-19 cases aside from ­approved clinical trials.

International studies have presented inconclusive and differing outcomes as to the effectiveness of chloroquine and anti-malarial drugs in slowing down the spread of COVID-19.

As of Saturday, 16 ADF personnel in Victoria, and 32 staff ­deployed overseas, had been infected by the virus. “Thirty-one of 32 members who tested positive for COVID-19 overseas have recovered,” the Defence spokesman said.

The Defence spokesman said the 1732 ADF personnel in the coronavirus ravaged state were being urged to wear personal protective equipment and adhere to stage four restrictions to avoid spreading the disease.