UPDATE @11:30am Pacific: The World Health Organization just suspended hydroxychloroquine from its global study of COVID-19 treatments because of the Brigham study detailed in this diary.
HYDROXYchloroquine or chloroquine, given with or without an antibiotic, “was associated with decreased in-hospital survival and an increased frequency of ventricular arrhythmias when used for treatment of COVID-19,” stated an authoritative six-continent, 671-hospital, 96,032-patient study published in The Lancet. < www.thelancet.com/… >
“It’s one thing not to have benefit, but this shows distinct harm,” said Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. “If there was ever hope for this drug, this is the death of it,” he told the Washington Post. < www.washingtonpost.com/… >
- The least harmful of four options—hydroxychloroquine alone—increased mortality, i.e. deaths, 34 percent. It also increased serious heart arrhythmias 137 percent.
- Chloroquine alone increased deaths by 37 percent, with a 256 percent increase in serious heart arrhythmias.
- Chloroquine plus an antibiotic also upped deaths 37 percent, with a higher (301 percent) increase in serious heart arrhythmias.
- ”For those receiving hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic — the cocktail endorsed by Trump — there was a 45 percent increased risk of death and a 411 percent increased risk of serious heart arrhythmias,” the Post stated.
“Each of these drug regimens was associated with decreased in-hospital survival and increased frequency of ventricular arrhythmias when used for treatment of COVID-19,” the researchers summarized. < www.thelancet.com/… >
Of the 14,888 patients who received drugs, 6,221 got hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic. Of the 96,032 patients whose medical records were studied, 10,698 died in hospital.
Even Fox News reported no benefit from “hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine when used alone or with a macrolide [antibiotic], on in-hospital outcomes for COVID-19.” < www.foxnews.com/… >
The study’s Discussion section starts with “In this large multinational real-world analysis, we did not observe any benefit of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine (when used alone or in combination with a macrolide) on in-hospital outcomes, when initiated early after diagnosis of COVID-19. Each of the drug regimens of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with a macrolide was associated with an increased hazard for clinically significant occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias and increased risk of in-hospital death with COVID-19.” < www.thelancet.com/… >
It continues “Our large-scale, international, real-world analysis supports the absence of a clinical benefit of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and points to potential harm in hospitalised patients with COVID-19.”
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School hosted the massive, highly-detailed observational study, designed by Prof. Mandeep R. Mehra, MD, and Dr. Amit N. Patel of the University of Utah. Data acquisition and statistical analysis were performed by Sapan S. Desai, MD, PhD, MBA of Surgisphere Corporation. < www.thelancet.com/… >
Meanwhile: Let’s Give 1,000 People the Deadliest Drugs and See What Happens!
Given the deadly results of the Brigham study, at least one semi-clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine seems threatening. “Last week, the National Institutes of Health announced a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin involving 2,000 adults dealing with their illness at home. In April, NIH launched a different randomized trial of the drug cocktail in hospitalized patients,” the Post reported on May 22.
The NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is headed by—you guessed it—Trump’s Alex Azar, Big Pharma lobbyist, former U.S. chief of pharma giant Eli Lilly, and head of Trump’s “coronavirus task force” during the do-nothing, say-it’s-OK months of January and February, until Trump took a step up in management and replaced Azar with that genius of leadership, that ball of fire, Mike Pence.
A Lawyer Controls the CDC and NIH
Azar, a “strong conservative” and “critic of the Affordable Care Act” < www.usatoday.com/… > was in charge while covid-19 invaded our country and Trump & Co. refused to give us the “gold-standard” World Health Organization coronavirus tests. Instead, attorney Azar—Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity bro at Dartmouth, clerk for Antonin Scalia, pal of Ken Starr and Brett Kavanaugh (trio smiling on Wikipedia), and a man with no discernible medical training—still presides over the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), which gave us faulty covid-19 test after faulty covid-19 test and almost completely disabled and hamstrung the American medical system’s ability to fight the invasion.
But surely that pharma bro has learned his lessons and everything’s fine. Surely, nothing else could go wrong while Azar still controls both the CDC and NIH.
Azar In Charge of Testing Trump’s Hydroxychloroquine Cocktail
Except, well, whoops, the latest NIH clinical trial uses the MOST DEADLY CONCOCTION tested by the Brigham study, a mix producing a 45 percent increased risk of death and a 411 percent increased risk of serious heart arrhythmias:
“Participants in the ACTG study, called A5395,” the NIH stated on May 14, “will receive oral medications to take at home.” [They get all the pills before the start.] “Those randomly assigned to the experimental treatment group will take 400 milligrams (mg) of hydroxychloroquine twice on the first day and 200 mg twice daily for an additional six days.
“They also will take 500 mg of azithromycin on the first day” the NIH continues, “and 250 mg daily for an additional four days. The control group will receive equivalent numbers of placebo pills. Neither the participants nor the study team will know who received experimental treatment or placebo until the end of the trial.” < www.nih.gov/… >
So what happens when someone’s home alone and gets one of those 411% serious heart arrhythmias? How many participants will keep taking the NIH pills after they read about the Brigham study? Half are getting the placebo, so “only” 1,000 appear to be in danger.
Also, with this kind of remote test, the results can be whatever the testers want them to be. < actgnetwork.org/… > Ooh, that sounds like I don’t trust Trump & Co. not to lie and cheat. . .
Math Challenge Extra Credit: How many of those 1,000 might die if the NIH didn’t notify them about the Brigham results before the long weekend? State your assumptions and work the problem.
Law Quiz: What is negligent manslaughter?