Hydroxychloroquine And Azithromycin Hype or Help?
There is lots of news about treatment options for the coronavirus. The most promising and the one currently being utilized by doctors is a Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin combo.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use of hydrocodone and azithromycin, two of the world’s most effective anti-virus drugs, to treat COVID.
A small study in France seems to suggest that hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin may act as a treatment for COVID-19. Another, smaller study from China suggests it was more effective in patients than in those who did not receive the drug.
However, a study just published in a French medical journal provides evidence that hydroxychloroquine does not seem to help the immune system remove the coronavirus from the body. The study follows a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that found 19% of patients had no severe viral symptoms. HCQ is typically used in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and is typically used as an anti-inflammatory drug to treat chronic pain and inflammation, as well as other conditions.
This week, the FDA approved Actemra, a common rheumatoid arthritis drug, for drug trials to treat coronavirus patients. US physicians have included Z-Pak (commonly referred to as Z Pak) as a treatment for severe cases of COVID-19 based on pending FDA approval. Sources: 4
Actemra, made by Swiss company Roche, is licensed in the UK and is used to treat severe cases of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
The HIV drug Kaletra (Aluvia) is used in China to treat COVID-19, but sources at Japan’s health ministry suggest the drug is not effective in patients with severe symptoms, according to the Guardian. Chinese patients are being treated by Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Novartis in the fight against the virus.
The company has proposed working with global health authorities, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for HIV / AIDS Research (IARC). On Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that chloroquine phosphate could have serious health consequences if used without a prescription or under the supervision of a health care provider, “to the point of death,” according to a CDC statement.
While health authorities do not tolerate people with mild symptoms who begin to self-medicate with hydroxychloroquine, some doctors have begun to apply it to their sick patients in hospitals. Public anxiety has also contributed to the run on the drug in pharmacies. Instead of asking patients not to have the drug on stock, pharmacists have turned to doctors to prescribe it to people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus who need it at the pharmacy. Juurlink, from the University of Toronto, says he supports the idea of preventing people from getting infected.
At Johns Hopkins, for example, patients with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, as well as people with other autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, are increasingly receiving the drug.
Faced with these numbers, and in the absence of known effective treatment, doctors at the forefront say they are beginning to use hydroxychloroquine and related chloroquines in patients who are deteriorating, based on a few small studies that suggest possible benefits. When other treatments do not work, some start treating patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms with hydroxychloroquine.
They were willing to prescribe the drugs because the therapy was inexpensive and widely available and the risk was relatively low. They said they were using hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, a therapy widely touted by Trump and other supporters. The protocols governing the use of these drugs contain guidelines on when they should be introduced and whether they should be combined with other drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pfizer announced the results of a coronavirus (Covid 19) clinical trial conducted in France. The study was conducted to evaluate the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in 20 patients, six of whom were also given azithromycin.
French clinicians and scientists tested hydroxychloroquine, a safe version of chloroquine that has been used for decades to treat malaria, and azithromycin, an antibiotic approved by the FDA in 2002. Compared to 16 control subjects, the percentage of virological healing achieved after six days of treatment was higher in the 20 patients treated with hydroXYCHLOCOQIN. The green group did not include 6 patients (3 patients who were worse off, 1 patient died or stopped treatment and left the hospital) and the red group.
Even hydroxychloroquine alone was effective in eliminating detectable viruses in 70% of the subjects. Despite this clear success, many doctors prescribe HydroXYCHLOCOQIN to coronavirus patients.
Dr Raymond Woosley says the anti-malaria drug chloroquine can cause subtle heart changes and increase the risk of developing arrhythmias. The drug, which has been used to treat malaria since the 1940s and is FDA-approved, has shown the ability to fight viruses such as HIVE, dengue, yellow fever and flu in vitro, Kalil says. This exposes patients who already have heart problems caused by COVID-19 to known side effects, including arrhythmias and cardiac arrest, “he said.
