Primum non nocere
Common Press release National Academy of Medicine – Academy of Sciences
March 25, 2020
In front of the Covid-19 pandemic, whose rapid progression is causing high morbidity and mortality, we do not yet have a proven drug treatment for the infection. In this context, it is necessary to recall that the use of a new treatment, whether it based on a molecule already in use in medicine for more than 70 years, must comply with a scientifically established methodology that uses codified rules. In the absence of such validation, the uncontrolled use of a drug entails disadvantages and risks: making it more complex or even impossible to assess its possible efficacy, inducing side effects or causing, through drug interaction, negative consequences on the effect of other treatments. It may also lead to a shortage of the drug for the patients who need it for another condition.
