Name: Hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, remdesevir, and more: The evidence on proposed COVID-19 treatments
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Hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, remdesevir, and more: The evidence on proposed COVID-19 treatments

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Although coronavirus vaccines are now being rolled out, it will be months before most people have access to them. In the meantime, information about which treatments for COVID-19 are effective and safe is crucial.Below is a list of treatments for COVID-19 that have received considerable media attention in the last year. This list describes the latest state of the research on these treatments and which governmental organizations approve the treatment.Remdesivir: Remdesivir is an anti-viral drug that is given intravenously. Two found that the drug the outcomes for patients hospitalized for COVID-19. In October, the Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19.However, the World Health Organization also ran randomized controlled trials on remdesivir and found that it had no effect on COVID-19. In November, the WHO recommended against remdesivir as a treatment.President Trump, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and actor Mel Gibson took remdesivir when they tested positive for the coronavirus.Baricitinib: A drug originally marketed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, in November, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for baricitinib as a treatment for COVID-19. An emergency use authorization allows the FDA to approve the use of a treatment during an emergency without the same level of evidence that would fully establish its eﬀectiveness and safety.However, the FDA did not authorize baricitinib to be used as a stand-alone treatment. It must be used in combination with remdesivir. The FDA based its decision on the results of one randomized controlled trial of over 1,000 patients. That found that patients using baricitinib with remdesivir had a recovery time one day shorter and a 30% chance of improved clinical status after 15 days than did patients who received a placebo.Bamlanivimab: Bamlanivimab is a monoclonal antibody produced by Eli Lilly to treat COVID-19. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins developed in a laboratory that are designed to mimic the way the immune system attacks a pathogen. One randomized controlled trial has that bamlanivimab reduced the amount of the coronavirus and symptoms in outpatients. It also slightly reduced the number of patients who had to be hospitalized or go to the emergency room. Yet this was only phase two of the trial. A larger phase three needs to be conducted before the full safety and efficacy of the treatment can be determined.That was enough for the FDA to issue an emergency use authorization for bamlanivimab as a treatment for COVID-19 in November. In response to the FDA’s action, the National Institutes of Health later released a statement saying at present, "there are insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of bamlanivimab for the treatment of outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19."Christie received a dose of bamlanivimab when he fell ill with COVID-19 in October.REGN-COV2: This treatment is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, produced by Regeneron. In September, Regeneron preliminary findings of 275 patients and found that the treatment had reduced the amount of the coronavirus in outpatients. Regeneron more data in October of 524 patients that showed that the amount of the coronavirus in outpatients who received REGN-COV2 dropped by tenfold when compared to patients who received a placebo. A larger trial of REGN-COV2 is ongoing.In November, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for REGN-COV2 as a treatment for COVID-19 in outpatients. However, the NIH released a statement saying there was not yet sufficient data to recommend REGN-COV2 as a treatment for COVID-19.Trump received a dose of REGN-COV2 when he fell ill in October.Convalescent plasma: This is plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 and then infused into a patient who is suffering from the virus. In theory, convalescent plasma contains antibodies that can fight the infection. In August, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma. However, the evidence supporting convalescent plasma is weak, leading the NIH to disagree with the FDA’s decision.A Mayo Clinic of 35,000 patients found a lower death rate among COVID-19 patients given convalescent plasma within three days of diagnosis versus those who were given it after four days or more. Yet the study lacked a control group, so it is unclear if the lower death rate was caused by the treatment or other factors. A Chinese found positive results for convalescent plasma but only had 10 patients in the study. A larger Chinese of 103 patients found no positive impact.Corticosteroids: These types of steroids have been used for years to treat autoimmune diseases. A in the United Kingdom found COVID-19 patients treated with one type of corticosteroid, dexamethasone, had a slightly lower death rate than patients who were not treated with it. It seemed to work particularly well for patients who needed a ventilator.Additionally, a of seven randomized trials found that patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who took a corticosteroid had a lower death rate than those who did not. At present, though, neither the FDA nor the WHO recommends corticosteroids as a treatment for COVID-19.Trump received dexamethasone for his bout with COVID-19.Ivermectin: Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug that has shown promise in the laboratory as a that can reduce the amount of the coronavirus. But research in the laboratory conducted on cell cultures is quite different than actually testing it on human beings. A journal reviewing the laboratory research concluded that the doses of ivermectin used in the laboratories were too large to be used safely in humans.But a group of physicians calling themselves the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance has released a of the research on invermectin as a treatment in actual COVID-19 patients. Much of the research involves using safe dosages in randomized controlled trials. The overall results are promising, showing that those who took invermectin had a shorter duration of symptoms. But critics have attacked those studies for having small sample sizes that can lead to biased outcomes.As of now, neither the FDA nor the WHO recommends ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.Hydroxychloroquine: This is another drug that was given an emergency use authorization by the FDA to treat COVID-19. When the FDA gave the authorization in March, it based it on limited research done in a laboratory and anecdotal clinical data. In July, the FDA revoked hydroxychloroquine’s emergency use authorization as more data showed that it was not effective at treating COVID-19.Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. This drug has created a great deal of controversy since Trump said in March that he was taking it as a preventive measure. Most of the published since then shows that hydroxychloroquine has no benefit for coronavirus patients. Trump did not take it when he fell ill with COVID-19 in October.The jury may still be out, as recent randomized controlled did find some benefit when hydroxychloroquine was combined with zinc. But the sample sizes for both of those studies are small, and as of now, neither the FDA nor the WHO recommends the drug as a treatment for COVID-19.

Although coronavirus vaccines are now being rolled out, it will be months before most people have access to them. In the meantime, information about which treatments for COVID-19 are effective and safe is crucial.Below is a list of treatments for COVID-19 that have received considerable media attention in the last year. This list describes the latest state of the research on these treatments and which governmental organizations approve the treatment.Remdesivir: Remdesivir is an anti-viral drug that is given intravenously. Two found that the drug the outcomes for patients hospitalized for...

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David Hogberg

The Washington Examiner is an American conservative news website and weekly magazine based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is owned by Philip Anschutz. From 2005 to mid-2013, the Examiner published a daily tabloid-sized newspaper, distributed throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area. The newspaper focused on local news and political commentary. The local newspaper ceased publication on June 14, 2013, whereupon its content began to focus almost exclusively on national politics, switching its print edition from a daily newspaper to a weekly magazine format.

Hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, remdesevir, and more: The evidence on proposed COVID-19 treatments

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