Can hydroxychloroquine treat COVID-19? It's too early to say!

!-- webeditor: page title-- May 2, 2020 / -- The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine remains one of the most promising COVID-19 treatments, especially on social media.
, however, that the effectiveness of this "magic drug" against the new coronavirus far exceeds the available clinical data.
small clinical trials have shown possible benefits.
but other studies have done the opposite.
hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can only be used under the close supervision of a doctor until we have larger, well-designed test results, which are currently under way.
the results of a combination of hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin may be used as a treatment for COVID-19, according to one of the earliest studies of hydroxychloroquine.
results of the study were quickly shared on social media as "evidence" of the drug's effectiveness.
even U.S. President Donald Trump posted the study on Twitter.
, however, the French study had several design flaws, including its small size and the way patients were included in the study.
photo source: After the study was published, the journal published the paper issued a statement expressing concern about some aspects of the study's design.
The New York Times later reported that Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanofi had "a small personal financial interest."
is a French manufacturer that produces the brand's drug, Plaquenil.
, the results of other small trials and preprints of the paper show that hydroxychloroquine is not effective against COVID-19.
swedish hospitals have stopped using chloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients after reports that chloroquine causes vision loss and blinding headaches, Newsweek reported.
part of a small study in Brazil that showed potentially fatal heart rate disorders after patients with COVID-19 took higher doses of chloroquine, the study stopped at an early stage.
results were published April 11 on the medRxiv website, an online server that shares medical papers before other researchers peer-review them.
the high-dose group were given chloroquine twice a day for 600 milligrams for 10 days.
to the sixth day, 11 patients died, leading researchers to halt the study early.
low-dose group -- 450 milligrams per day for five days, twice a day -- but there were not enough patients to let researchers know if the drug was effective against severe COVID-19.
hearse is not enough, except for a few small studies on hydroxychloroquine, much of the "evidence" about its benefits is based on news reports and reports on social media that people are getting better after taking the drug.
unfortunately, these anecdotes don't really tell you whether the drug is effective or, just as important, whether it's safe.
most people infected with coronavirus will recover on their own, " he said.
so if you give hydroxychloroquine to people who are already getting better, the drug seems to be working," said Dr. Allison Bond, an infectious disease doctor at the University of California, San Francisco.
many factors affect whether a person recovers from COVID-19.
the elderly and people with underlying health problems are more likely to develop serious illnesses.
who are being treated in hospitals full of COVID-19 patients are less likely to recover due to a lack of medical resources.
anecdotal rumors cannot explain these factors.
they can't answer other important clinical questions, such as what dose works best, when to give it, or whether you should give it at the same time.
Steven K. Libutti, director of the Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey and senior vice president of oncology services at RWJ Barnabas Health, said, "The only way we can know if a preparation is really effective is to conduct clinical trials."
these trials should include not only more patients, but also a wide variety of patients.
, you can see not only how the drug interacts with the infection itself, but also how the drug interacts with pre-existing medical conditions in patients.
" clinical trials also need to know if a drug is safe.
have known a lot about the side effects of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine because these drugs have been around for years.
but Bond says patients with COVID-19 may need higher doses of the drug than in other cases.
we're already using this drug, we're using different doses, and if the dose increases, you're more likely to have side effects," he said.
" better clinical trials are underway, and the American Society of Infectious Diseases (IDSA) issued guidelines on April 11 recommending the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine to treat COVID-19.
given the current "knowledge gap," the American Pharmacopeia Association recommends using these drugs alone in clinical trials or in sharing them with azithromycin.
the guidelines also stress that the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine plus azithromycin is at greater risk because patients may experience arrhythlasmic disorders.
limiting the use of these drugs to clinical trials will make it possible for doctors to help patients while collecting the data necessary to see if they are really effective for severe COVID-19 patients.
large-scale clinical studies of hydroxychloroquine have begun, including those of the National Institutes of Health, the University of Washington and the Rutgers Cancer Institute.
Libutti is one of the researchers at Rutgers University.
study randomly divided COVID-19 patients into three groups: monohydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, or hydroxychloroquine, after giving a six-day supportive treatment group.
we're looking at whether these drugs, individually or in groups, can really reduce the viral load on patients," Libutti said.
: The study is similar to the French study, but more rigorous in design.
, people are randomly divided into groups to minimize bias.
if you don't have random groupings, you can get most healthier people into a drug group -- that makes the drug look effective.
a control group -- people who received only supportive treatment -- allowed the researchers to see how they were doing compared to those who took one or both drugs at the same time.
!--/ewebeditor:page--!--ewebeditor:page-title"--the researchers will also look at people with mild, moderate, or severe COVID-19 symptoms, as well as those who are receiving treatment in hospital or outpatient care.
these subgroups to see if the drug is more effective at some point in the disease than at others," libutti said.
" trial is progressing rapidly.
they had completed the registration of 160 people, he expected results in about two weeks.
the study may not answer all the questions about hydroxychloroquine, the results should provide doctors with more data on how best to help COVID-19 patients.
if (drugs or combinations of drugs) work, we need to deploy this strategy more broadly, and if it doesn't work, then we need to focus on other strategies," he said.
" () Reference: 1.It's Too Early to Know If Hydroxychloroquine Will Help Treat People with COVID-19 Clinical trial for drug complex to treat coronavirus is fast-tracked by Ru Tgers 3: Society of Society of America Guidelines on the Treatment and Management of Patients with COVID-19 (4) Even as chloroquine show potential for treating COVID-19, doctors warn caution. needed (5) Chloroquine diphosphate in two different dosages as adjunctive therapy of the hospitaled patients with severe respiratory syndrome in the context of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infect: Preliminary safety results of a randomized, double-blinded, phase IIb clinical trial (CloroCovid-19 Study) (6) SOME SWEDISH HOSPITALS HAVE STOPPED USING CHLOROQUINE TO TREAT COVID-19. AFTER REPORTS OF SEVERE SIDE EFFECTS 7 Hydroxychloroquine Update For April 6 /!--/ewebeditor:page--