By Patrick Colbeck
Why is HCQ so controversial? Simple…it provides hope when others seek to promote fear.
At the same time as government officials such as Governor Whitmer were fanning the flames of fear as they implemented their stay at home orders, a reason for hope surfaced in the form of a clinical trial by Professor Didier Roault in Marseille, France who cited a 100% cure rate in patients treated with HCQ. In a subsequent larger trial, the promise of the treatment was undiminished as 91.7% of his 1,061 patients recovered.
In the U.S. hotbed of the COVID-19 outbreak, New York City, Dr. Zelenko released the results of a trial he conducted in which 100% of 699 patients recovered from COVID-19 upon treatment with HCQ, Zinc and Z-pack (azithromycin).
When President Trump subsequently touted the effectiveness of the drug as a reason for hope during a press conference, the media promoted a series of stories designed to quell enthusiasm about a promising treatment.
First there was the story about a man who died from taking chloroquine-based fish tank cleaner. Then there was clamor claiming that Hydroxychloroquine was in limited supply and needed for those suffering from other illnesses. Then, criticism shifted to the lack of a RCT. Then, the media promoted a retroactive VA hospitalization study which concluded that HCL resulted in more deaths not less. Then, criticism shifted to increased risks of heart arrhythmia. Now, an increasing number of studies are popping up indicating that it is not effective. The FDA has issued mixed signals in their warning about the non-clinical use of the drug yet followed by assertions that the decision to use HCQ should be between doctors and patients.
Against this barrage, we have study after study proclaiming the effectiveness of the drug.
In fact, in a survey of 6,200 doctors worldwide, it was clear that doctors viewed HCQ as the most effective drug at treating COVID-19. While not a formal study, it does indicates that physicians seeking a means of treating COVID-19 rely upon HCQ to save the lives of patients.
Why? First of all, it is low risk.
“Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ/Plaquenil) is a very safe drug. It has been given to tens of millions of individuals in the world since its approval in 1955 (65 year ago) and as monotherapy has not been associated with any deaths in the recommended dose. In 42 years of practice, no patient of mine has ever been hospitalized for a HCQ complication.” – Daniel Wallace, MD
Furthermore, HCQ treatments are relatively low cost. A physician can treat patients for as little as $8/treatment. The combination of safety and low risk may be key drivers behind the fact that many healthcare workers on the front line of the battle against COVID-19 take Plaquenil prophylactically. The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) which represents over 5,000 physicians in the U.S. recommends that patients be treated with HCQ.
There are at least three RCT studies related to HCQ at present in South Dakota, New York and Detroit. Most of these trials appear to be focused upon hospitalized patients as opposed to outpatient studies which have shown the most promise thus far.
Sadly, it appears that some of the trials which are underway are designed to prove that HCQ is not effective. One of the most vocal detractors of HCQ is Dr. Anthony Fauci who is a member of President Trump’s COVID-19 task force. His remarks consistently seek to squash hope pertaining treatment of COVID-19 in favor of a vaccine even as the President announced that he has been taking HCQ prophylactically for weeks. In a May 18, 2020 article by Howard Richman in the American Thinker, provided the following important insights into the debate around HCL:
“HCQ is a zinc-ionophore (meaning that it helps transport available zinc from the bloodstream through cell walls into cells where it slows virus replication). Medical researchers from around the world have been calling for the combo of HCQ and zinc supplements to be tested, based upon their extensive reviews of the research evidence. These researchers include Shittu and Afolami from Michigan, Scholz and Derwand from Germany, and Noeparast and Verschelden from Belgium.
But Fauci is about to begin a study in which he will test HCQ by administering it without zinc to mild and moderately severe COVID-19 cases. In contrast, doctors at St. Francis Hospital in New York pay attention to the medical research. They just announced a study that will test HCQ with zinc with non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
A retrospective study at NYU just found that the St. Francis doctors are on the right track, but Fauci is not. The NYU team began its study of hospitalized patients without zinc, but midway through, they read the research, which holds that the HCQ-zinc combination can be more effective, so they added zinc sulfate supplements to their HCQ-azithromycin treatment.”
An study by the National Institute of Health (headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci ironically) released on March 20, 2020 concluded,
“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.”
During the middle of a pandemic, it is easy to criticize promising treatments for lack of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), but that doesn’t mean that successful clinical trials by reputable scientists should not be offered reasons for hope.
“Randomized trials in this setting are incredibly difficult because patients are desperate for a cure, and if anything seems to work, then it gets widely adapted. It is very difficult to do a trial like that. For example, there was never a randomized trial for the drugs to treat pneumococcal pneumonia or tuberculosis. We have to rethink whether or not it is doable to perform a randomized trial in a new disease in a pandemic situation.” -Dr. William O’Neill
Thankfully, we have a pretty good indirect indicator of the effectiveness of HCQ. HCQ has been used for decades in Africa to prevent the spread of malaria. Did you know that the entire continent of Africa has had less deaths from COVID-19 (2,907) then Michigan (5,017)? (As of May 21, 2020)
Sadly, your willingness to believe in the effectiveness of HCQ appears to have less to do with science and more to do with which network your watch for your news.
The bottom line is that treatments based upon HCQ have shown significant promise in clinical trials. It is clear from these trials that the earlier a patient receives HCQ-based treatment, the better off they are.