| |
Hydroxychloroquine....'They could work': Coronavirus drug trials to begin in N.Y. state, Cuomo says
|
| |
| |
New York State is about to begin testing drugs for treatment of coronavirus, Gov. Cuomo said Sunday.
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-testing-new-york-state-20200322-zvzog4p2yvh4bpvhbd5p5nxlly-story.html
The feds have given the state 70,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine, 10,000 doses of zithromax and 750,000 doses of chloroquine. Testing will kick off Tuesday, Cuomo said.
"The president is optimistic about these drugs and we are all optimistic that it could work," the governor said at a press conference. "I've spoken with a number of health officials and there is a good basis to believe that they could work."
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are ordinarily used to treat malaria and certain inflammatory conditions, according to the FDA.
With President Trump touting hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus, patients who need the drug for conditions like lupus have struggled to refill their prescriptions, according to published reports.
----------------------
Hydroxychloroquine
https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/old-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-may-help-cure-coronavirus-study/
A drug developed over half a century ago to treat malaria is showing signs that it may also help cure COVID-19 - especially when combined with an antibiotic, a promising new study reveals.
Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil - and also used to treat arthritis and other ailments - was determined to be effective in killing the deadly bug in laboratory experiments, Forbes reported, citing findings published March 9 in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.
"(W)e predict that the drug has a good potential to combat the disease," the study's authors, most from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, wrote in a letter published in Cell Discovery on Wednesday, according to the report.
Now, French physician-researchers have completed a largely successful clinical trial using the drug - approved for use in the US in 1955 - to treat confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to a study published Wednesday.
A total of 36 patients - including 20 treated individuals and 16 infected controls - were enrolled in the study, led by Didier Raoult, an infectious disease expert from l'Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire in Marseille.
The treated group was given 600 mg of Plaquenil each day.
The researchers found that 50 percent of the treated group turned from positive to negative for the virus by the third day - and by day six, that figure was up to 70 percent.
Of the 20 test patients, six who were treated with both Plaquenil and the antibiotic azithromycin showed impressive results - with five testing negative at day three. All six of them tested negative at day six.
"Despite its small sample size our survey shows that hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients and its effect is reinforced by azithromycin," the study concluded.
Meanwhile, researchers found that a pill containing two HIV drugs touted as a potential treatment for COVID-19 was not effective.
-----------------------------------------
https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/these-are-the-drugs-being-tested-in-fight-against-coronavirus/
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (sold under the brand name Plaquenil and others):
Referring to chloroquine and a related drug, hydroxychloroquine, Trump said: "We're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that's where the FDA has been so great."
The compounds are already widely available, as they're used to treat existing ailments like malaria and arthritis - but FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn cautioned that they haven't yet been approved as treatment for coronavirus.
"That's a drug that the president has directed us to take a closer look at as to whether an expanded use approach to that could be done, to actually see if that benefits patients," Hahn said. "We want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial."
Both of the medicines have been used for centuries to treat malaria, which is caused by a parasite, unlike the coronavirus.
Some studies have found it can still be effective in treating and preventing SARS, a close relative of COVID-19.
One of those studies was conducted in primate cells in 2005 amid the SARS outbreak, but never used as treatment as the disease was contained, Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist and internist at Lenox Hill Hospital told The Post.
"There was no reason to use it at that time but looking back, there was a feeling it could be used to reduce the possibility of being infected or as treatment," for coronavirus, especially since "we know that its tolerated in people," Horovitz said
A recent French study of hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, was also promising - reporting that after 24 patients were treated for six days with the drug, the virus had disappeared in all but a quarter of them. But the research hasn't yet been peer reviewed or published.
Horovitz warned that the drug hasn't been approved as treatment for coronavirus.
"If you decide you're going to take chloroquine, it doesn't mean you should abandon all the prevention methods - it doesn't take the place of social distancing," he said.
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are also among four treatments being tested in an international clinical trial announced Wednesday by the World Health Organization.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
