The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. / VCG
The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. / VCG
The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which was touted by United States President Donald Trump, was found effective in treating patients with COVID-19 by a new study after many others said no.
The study, led by a research team from the Henry Ford Health System in Southeast Michigan, USA, was published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases on July 1.
They looked at 2,541 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 10 and May 2 and found that those who took hydroxychloroquine had a “significantly” lower death rate.
The patients involved were generally over 18 years old, with a mean age of 64 years. Of those who were treated with hydroxychloroquine alone, 13 percent died, compared to 26.4 percent of those who did not receive the medication.
The study also evaluated the role of azithromycin in the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
“Overall crude mortality rates were 18.1 percent across the cohort, 13.5 percent in the hydroxychloroquine alone group, 20.1 percent among those receiving hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin, 22.4 percent between the azithromycin alone group, and 26.4 percent for none of the medications, “the report said.
“Our analysis shows that the use of hydroxychloroquine helped save lives,” said neurosurgeon Steven Kalkanis, CEO of Henry Ford Medical Group in an article by the Detroit-based healthcare system. “The data here is clear that the use of the drug was beneficial in treating sick and hospitalized patients.”
Dr. Marcus Zervos, chief of the Infectious Diseases division for the Henry Ford Health System, said the finding has been “highly analyzed and peer-reviewed,” and attributed his different drug findings from other studies to “early treatment.” , a combination of interventions in patient supportive care “and different doses.
“Considered in the context of current studies on the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, our results suggest that the drug may have an important role in reducing COVID-19 mortality,” said Zervos.
Despite the positive results, Zervos cautioned that the study results should not apply to patients treated outside of hospital settings, and further confirmation is required in prospective randomized controlled trials.
Controversial results
The findings are in dispute.
The World Health Organization (WHO) just completed trials of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir / ritonavir treatments on July 4, as the drugs “produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in compared to standard care. “
Before the WHO statement, the National Institutes of Health announced to suspend the clinical trial of the drug on June 20, saying that “although there was no harm, the study drug was highly unlikely to be of benefit to hospitalized patients with COVID -19 “.
The United States Food and Drug Administration revoked the Emergency Use Authorization (US) for the drug on June 15, as “it is unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for authorized uses in the USA “.
Researchers from the University of Oxford stopped the drug “RECOVERY” trial on June 5 and concluded that it has no beneficial effect on hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Other researchers also noted the limitations of the study.
Dr. Todd Lee of Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada said the results were relevant with steroid use.
The widely available steroid dexamethasone was found effective in reducing the risk of death among severe cases of COVID-19 in a study led by the University of Oxford, and patients who treated with hydroxychloroquine used concomitant steroids twice as much as untreated ones, he told CNN.
Henry Ford’s team also compared their study to a New York study where no reduction in hospitalized mortality was observed with hydroxychloroquine treatment.
“This study included patients who started hydroxychloroquine therapy at any time during their hospitalization,” the team said in their report, but in contrast, treated 82 percent of patients with the drug within the first 24 hours of admission. , and 91 percent within 48 hours of admission.
Eli Rosenberg, lead author of the New York study, told CNN that her patients began taking the drug on average a day after being hospitalized. “There may be a slight difference, but it’s not like patients in New York started on day seven. That was not what happened.”
He also noted that Henry Ford’s investigation excluded 267 patients who had not been discharged from the hospital, which could make the drug “look better than it really was.”
Kalkanis said his findings do not make the previous studies “incorrect or definitely a conflict.”
“What it simply means is that by looking at nuanced data from the patients who really benefited and when, we might be able to further unlock the code for how this disease works,” he was quoted as saying by CNN.
