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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
French Expert: Second Study Shows Hydroxychloroquine Helps Fight Coronavirus
2020-03-30
[Geller Report] Paris (AFP) ‐ The controversial French professor who believes the anti-malaria drug chloroquine can help beat the coronavirus, has claimed that a new study he has conducted confirms its "efficiency" at combatting the virus.

But several other scientists and critics of microbiologist Didier Raoult, who heads the infectious diseases department of La Timone hospital in Marseille, were quick to cast doubt upon his findings.
Critics and naysayers abound.
They said the testing was not carried out in a controlled study and that the results were purely "observational".
Posted by:Besoeker

#16  IMO, they could do a study where some people got 200mg pills w 200mg of HCQ where others go 200mg pills with, say 150mg of HCQ, etc.

Since we don't know the most effective dosage it would still be ethical.

The ethical problem is when you give people a 200mg pill with 0mg of HCQ when you have good reason to think HCQ is the right medicine.
Posted by: lord garth   2020-03-30 14:53  

#15  You want controlled study, do a controlled study. Instead of giving control group placebo, give them quinine without telling. Being traditional doesn't make the standard way holy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-03-30 12:32  

#14  overtaken by events

FDA OKs emergency authorization of drugs touted by Trump to fight coronavirus
Posted by: Skidmark   2020-03-30 11:53  

#13  When this is all over

Up to 10 percent of recovered coronavirus patients test positive again, report says
Posted by: Skidmark   2020-03-30 11:52  

#12  When this is all over and we are figuring out how to prevent it happening again, one of the things that should be looked at is the consensus model of medicine. It's optimized for safety, which is great, but less useful when lots of people are dropping dead.
Posted by: Iblis   2020-03-30 11:23  

#11  /\ (To be spoken in a Yoda Voice) (...and I am referring to the anonymous "scientists and critics", not other Rantburger's comments)
Posted by: magpie   2020-03-30 10:35  

#10  /\ "The Force of Orthodoxy is strong with this one!"
Posted by: magpie   2020-03-30 10:32  

#9  overtaken by events

yesterday evening the FDA approved emergency use of the two quinine based drugs (previously they were approved only for compassionate use).

not that I am an apologist for the FDA but they do have to worry about some important issues:

- if the supply of these drugs is limited, there is a problem because lots of people taken them regularly for non-virus issues (e.g., treating arthritis and lupus)

- we really don't know what the dosage should be in the case of the Wu Flu; and we won't know until lots of tests have been done and even then we won't really know because by next year there may be a Wu Flu that is resistant to the quinine drugs

and of course the optimum dosage probably varies by the stage of the disease
Posted by: lord garth   2020-03-30 10:28  

#8  I'm guessing if one of these "respected men of medicine" tested positive he'd be extolling the virtues of it.
Posted by: Warthog   2020-03-30 10:01  

#7  Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) is a category of otherwise unrelated drugs defined by their use in rheumatoid arthritis to slow down disease progression.

These DMARDs include:

chloroquine (anti-malarial) - Suppression of IL-1, induce apoptosis of inflammatory cells and decrease chemotaxis

hydroxychloroquine (anti-malarial) - TNF-alpha, induce apoptosis of inflammatory cells and decrease chemotaxis

Wikipedia
Posted by: Bobby   2020-03-30 09:25  

#6  A certain type loves to crack on Ayn Rand, but her dictum "Seeing is believing." is pretty straightforward.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-03-30 09:16  

#5  Heck, we've used aspirin for over a hundred years without FDA double blind studies.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-03-30 09:09  

#4  They said the testing was not carried out in a controlled study and that the results were purely "observational".

As with Lazurus, some things need only be seen to be believed.
Posted by: Besoeker   2020-03-30 08:56  

#3  Someone alert the governor of Michigan.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-03-30 08:54  

#2  'Purely observational'? You mean of drugs in long term use that are well tolerated with long known minor side effects?
Posted by: Cesare   2020-03-30 08:01  

#1  Fuckers
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB   2020-03-30 06:49  

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