Replies to post #287424 on Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc (IPIX)

[CallMeCrazy]

That hydroxychloroquine study had lots of problems

While encouraging, it is important to note that this is an unpublished preliminary study, so the results should be viewed with caution. The sample size is small, and the study was non-randomized, meaning people were allocated to different interventions using non-random methods. The study was also "unblinded," meaning that all parties—i.e. the medical staff, patients and researchers—were aware of the treatments the participants received.

Randomization and blinding—where one or more parties are kept unaware of which treatments patients received—are used to prevent conscious or unconscious bias from affecting the results of the trial. Nevertheless, Raoult and colleagues decided to publicly release their early results due to the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 outbreak.

"For ethical reasons and because our first results are so significant and evident we decide to share our findings with the medical community, given the urgent need for an effective drug against SARS-CoV-2 in the current pandemic context," the authors wrote in the draft paper.

Some experts—such as Andrew Preston from the University of Bath in the U.K.—stress that larger, controlled trials need to be conducted to truly determine the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-says-malaria-drug-for-coronavirus-has-been-approved-by-fda/ar-BB11qhdJ?ocid=msedgdhp
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We will need more than one treatment to fight this virus. Even the preliminary study with hydroxychloroquine showed a cure rate of 70% and it's unclear, since asymptomatic patients were treated in the study, if there was a difference between cure rates in the most seriously ill or the least. You never want to be limited to only one treatment for serious illnesses. Best if there are several to chose from.