hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin study. htt
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https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/927758
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A controversial study led by Didier Raoult, MD, PhD, on the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in patients with COVID-19 was published on March 20, as reported by Medscape Medical News. The latest results from the same Marseille team, which involve 80 patients, were reported on March 27.
The investigators report a significant reduction in the viral load (83% patients had negative results on quantitative polymerase chain reaction testing at day 7, and 93% had negative results on day . There was a "clinical improvement compared to the natural progression." One death occurred, and three patients were transferred to intensive care units.
If the data seem encouraging, the lack of a control arm in the study leaves clinicians perplexed, however.
Medscape French Edition spoke to Benjamin Davido, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Raymond-Poincaré Hospital in Garches, Paris, about the implications of these new results.
What do you think about the new results presented by Prof Raoult's team? Do they confirm the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine?
These results are complementary [to the original results] but don't offer any new information or new statistical evidence. They are absolutely superimposable and say overall that, between 5 and 7 days [of treatment], very few patients shed the virus. But that is not the question that everyone is asking.
Even if we don't necessarily have to conduct a randomized study, we should at least compare the treatment, either against another therapy ― which could be hydroxychloroquine monotherapy, or just standard of care. It needed an authentic control arm.