Detailed Comparison between the Safety Profiles of Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine

Abstract

Introducing an innovative drug to the market requires not only large amounts of money, but also time. Therefore, the process of repositioning, i.e., finding new indications for drugs already in use, is becoming more and more frequent. In 2020, chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were approved for the treatment of severe COVID-19 infection. However, studies have shown that the adverse effects of these drugs are too serious and the approval was revoked. The most serious and most frequently reported adverse effects were cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity. For this reason, the study investigates the possible mechanism of cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity of CQ and HCQ using in silico computational methods. The results of this study were found to be consistent with the literature.