“I would prefer to catch COVID-19"
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<p>Despite the world urgently looking for a coronavirus cure, Australian army veterans have warned against one such "wonder cure".</p>
<p>The veterans were given the controversial drug whilst in East Timor and have urged scientists to consider the side effects of using anti-malarial tafenoquine as a potential COVID-19 treatment. </p>
<p>Drug company 60 Degrees Pharmaceuticals (60P) is planning to conduct clinical research to determine its effectiveness in human beings.</p>
<p>"Like many companies, 60P and its partners are trying to do our part to provide solutions for treating and preventing COVID 19," he said.</p>
<p>Doctors and veterans have quickly raised concerns about the anti-malarial drugs' safety.</p>
<p>Glen Norton is one of almost 700 soldiers who took the anti-malarial during trials conducted by the Defence Force between 1998 and 2002.</p>
<p>Two decades on after the trial, Norton still suffers from mood swings, depression, anxiety, hallucinations and many more.</p>
<p>"One minute I would be happy, and the next minute I would be curled up in the corner somewhere crying," he said.</p>
<p>"This drug has totally destroyed my personal life."</p>
<p>Mr Norton said he first began noticing changes when he took tafenoquine while deployed in East Timor in 2000.</p>
<p>"We used to call Sunday nights psycho night because of the side effects," he said.</p>
<p>"All of us that were on those drugs were having nightmares and things like that — we had people literally screaming in their sleep like they're being murdered."</p>
<p>He's been horrified to hear that the drug is being considered as a treatment for coronavirus.</p>
<p>"I would prefer to catch COVID-19 and take the risk than to let anyone go through the pain and suffering myself and other soldiers have experienced."</p>
<p>American epidemiologist Remington Nevin said tafenoquine belonged to a class of anti-malaria medications shown to be neurotoxic.</p>
<p>"I am afraid we're seeing the same thing potentially playing out with tafenoquine," Dr Nevin said.</p>
<p>"Our group's concern is that there is simply incomplete study data on these drugs."</p>
<p>He said that there were critical flaws in the study conducted on soldiers.</p>
<p>"When symptoms develop in this environment, it's very tempting to attribute these — and possibly misattribute these — simply to the stresses of deployment and not to the drugs," he said.</p>
<p>"I'm also concerned about the ethics of the trials that have been conducted and the quality of clinical data that have been collected from these studies."</p>
<p>However, others have argued that it's safe.</p>
<p>University of Queensland anti-malaria expert James McCarthy gave evidence to a Senate inquiry into the use of tafenoquine in the Defence Force in 2018.</p>
<p>"Comprehensive reviews of multiple clinical trials suggest that the incidence of neurological side effects was no higher in those receiving tafenoquine compared with a placebo," he said.</p>
<p><em>Photo credits: </em><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-14/ex-soldiers-warn-about-tafenoquine-to-treat-covid-19/12546468" target="_blank" class="_e75a791d-denali-editor-page-rtflink">ABC</a></em></p>
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