Hydroxychloroquine is one of the candidates for the treatment of the new coronavirus (covid-19). This drug is said to prevent the proliferation of the virus by inhibiting RNA polymerase.
As for the mechanism of this medicine, by opening a gate on the cell membrane so that zinc ions can enter into the cell, and the zinc inhibits the function of RNA polymerase.
For the new coronavirus, the effect of this hydroxychloroquine was investigated by comparing the administrated group with the non-administered group. As an evaluation index in this study, the amount of the new coronavirus was evaluated with the number of cycles (Ct) to reach the PCR reaction threshold in RT-PCR.
Unfortunately, it turned out that there was not a significant difference between the two groups.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7592126/
Over the past days, the mechanism is different from Hydroxychloroquine, but the WHO has announced that Remdesivir, which also inhibits the proliferation of virus, was not effetive.
More and more, the battle against coronavirus is not in sight.