Some good news on Hyroxychloroquine

There was a Cox risk model last week, that frankly had flaws, suggesting hcq was not improving results. This newer study found a 44% improvement in mortality for those taking hcq in combination with other medications. Somewhat encouraging without being conclusive:

NEW YORK - Researchers at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine found patients given the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine along with zinc sulphate and the antibiotic azithromycin were 44 percent less likely to die from the coronavirus.

"Certainly we have very limited options as far as what we have seen work for this infection so anything that may work is very exciting," said Dr. Joseph Rahimian, Infectious Disease Specialist at NYU Langone Health.

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The study looked at the records of 932 COVID-19 patients treated at local hospitals with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.

More than 400 of them were also given 100 milligrams of zinc daily. 

Researchers said the patients given zinc were one and a half times more likely to recover, decreasing their need for intensive care.

• Why Hospitals in NYC Have Abandoned Hydroxychloroquine

One theory is that hydroxychloroquine may aid a cell’s ability to absorb the zinc which has antiviral properties and responds to the infection.

"It sort of boosts the zinc activity which is one of the reasons we thought to look at zinc here and in this observational study we did see a difference suggesting that maybe that boosting activity of the hydroxychloroquine with the zinc helps the zinc to work better and lead to a benefit," Rahimian said.

Dr. Rahimian says patients in the more critical stages of infection did not fare as well.

And he cautioned that more research is needed - in particular a randomized controlled trial - to prove how and how well the drug combination works.

This again is typical newspaper BS,  On the one hand the one article claimed that they have had a study with 932 patients in New York hospitals, while the other article said the use of Hydroxychloroquine and zinc combination was stopped in New York.

Is there anything left in the USA media that can be trusted anymore?        

It’s puzzling Mike and sad that we can’t be sure other motivations aren’t biasing this research. I’m convinced no doctor in the US thinks finding for hcq benefits his career. Finding against it though, might.

The finding I reported above comes from the 4th ranked Research Institute in the USA:

New York University (Grossman)

New York, NY

• #4in Best Medical Schools: Research (tie)

The Grossman School of Medicine at New York University (Grossman) has an application deadline of Oct. 15. The... READ MORE »

Another vile little attack, by a bitter failure. No I don’t know if hcq works. But the 4th ranked  Research institute  in the USA  believes it works....as does one of the world’s prominent virologists in France.

In the absence of any proven treatment those findings deserve a fair, impartial hearing....people are dying.

I’m not opining on it .....I’m reporting a new study from a  research institute with infinitely more credibility than Rick Bright.

It's just Bozo putting politics and his own selfish interests above science and the interests of millions of Americans . . . and a bunch of brainwashed Trumpanzees who can't see what is happening.

Hate, hate, hate...Orange man bad...stupid, stupid, me so smart, orange man bad..hate hate hate, LMAO!!!....Grrrr...repeat/recycle.

C’mon Shark. This was a study done by the 4th ranked Research Institute in the country. Trump couldn’t have influenced it. It has a place in the debate.

It’s fine having opposing points of view....I’ll always consider fair arguments and data. But you don’t want to become a pawn like Peeper, who  is  so far gone nothing can change his beliefs.

Wehe . . . I wonder if the Squeaky Toy will post a "whoosh" here . . . given that it's so appropriate for once!

Conflicting reports and political axe-grinding have thickened the fog of war on this, but we know a number of things: 

1. HCQ has been around for decades and is a ‘safe’ treatment for malaria and other conditions including lupus and arthritis (as the BBC has acknowledged). 

2. Many doctors (and India) use HCQ as a preventive measure, as President Trump is now doing. A survey of doctors by a leading American physician staffing firm found that 65 per cent would give HCQ to their own family as a prevention or treatment. The UK is now conducting trials into whether HCQ can help prevent Covid-19. Results are not expected before the end of the year, although there will be results sooner from similar trials in the US.

3. International experience suggests HCQ can be effective in tackling Covid. Reports from France, Italy and Spain point to positive results from the use of HCQ, while a number of other countries are seeing success including Turkey, Costa Rica, Algeria, Belgium and Bahrain. This month a Shanghai-based doctor reported that, in China, a combination of zinc, hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin ‘has been able to save coronavirus patients’. 

4. Many prominent Americans are taking HCQ to treat Covid-19 (and recovering) even as opponents attack President Trump for following the lead of many doctors. Hall of Fame rock star David Bryan, best known as the keyboardist for Bon Jovi, tested positive and was treated with HCQ, among other things. By late April, he was said to have recovered. Former Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar has now admitted her husband was treated with HCQ after he contracted coronavirus. After his rapid recovery, Senator Klobuchar said (through gritted teeth): ‘I believe he did briefly take that drug.’

Sadly it doesn’t seem to be the priority of most mainstream journalists, and some in the scientific community, to report the facts on HCQ in a responsible manner. As political commentator Scott Adams recently pointed out, the corporate news (CNN, Fox News etc) has no credibility when it comes to reporting on pharmaceuticals. In this context, this may be partly due to politics, but it is also a result of their financial stake in drug advertising.

With regard to reporting of the Lancet’s finding about increased deaths, Adams asked whether this should be seen as a surprise ‘given that we know the HCQ can have some heart issues with people who already have heart issues. Do [elderly people who are dying from coronavirus] have strong hearts? Probably not’.

He added: 

 ‘What they don’t do on CNN is mention that if you don’t test it with the zinc [then] I’m not sure that you’ve really tested the thing that has the most promise. Where is that [test]?’

He has a point. A number of doctors say zinc is essential.

California emergency physician Dr Anthony Cardillo said during a local television interview: 

‘[HCQ] really only works in conjunction with zinc. Every patient I have prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within eight to twelve hours they were basically symptom-free and so clinically I am seeing a resolution.’

I think politics play a big role in what is happening in the USA.   The leftist media and probably the Democratic Party does not want to really see anything that could help patients and the more deaths occurring the more they see the deaths as a political weapon they can use in the upcoming elections.   

What is clear is that doctors around the world are trying to save lives of their patients and on the absence of any real treatment they try other medicines that has shown positive results and I think it is really inhuman to undermine doctors in their efforts to help people in danger as a result of the Covid19 virus.

Until there is a proven treatment to be used I think let the doctors try whatever they wish to save patients,   What is known already is that a very large percentage of the deaths are of people already suffering from diseases that would have caused their deaths as well.   Perhaps the virus did enhance the deaths - but really not caused it.    The issue can only be dealt with at a later stage this year when a scientific statistically-based evaluation without political bias is being done,   

What I think New York and some other States have done  was counter-productive - instead of protecting the really endangered people they actually exposed them to infection and thousands died as a result.   That is really bad news.       .     

65% of doctors  around the USA would give HCQ to their families if they contacted the disease or as a prevention. My guess I s that number would be lower in NY because of peer pressure. 

The studies don’t prescribe when to use hcq. My guess is because of peer pressure and fear of law suits....hcq is largely  only prescribed when  the situation is desperate. And then the legal jeopardy  flips and not prescribing it as a last resort would open the doctor to legal action.

That view fits with the fact that hcq patients have higher viral loads in study after study.