Taking anecdotal or very small studies and saying that it works is not the best way to do things. If it does work in some cases that is great, but if it causes people to buy medications or use medications not prescribed it is not great. It also isn’t great to have people thinking they know more than experts, and second guessing every way their friend or relative is treated. Chloroquine and azithromycin is an example where the study was exclusive of patients in the ICU. When patients were in the trial and sent for escalating care they were excluded from the trial. It is easy to see why that doesn’t meet the scientific method for drug efficacy. If a scientist is studying the efficacy of the drug, they shouldn’t exclude people from the results if the drug didn’t work. There was a follow up study done in France that basically looked at the original study and points out all their flaws.
Here is a great breakdown of that study:
Are hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin an effective treatment for COVID-19?
I hope people remain cautious with the prescription of these drugs. Side effects could be profound. QtC elongation(a common side effect) could lead to cardiac arrest in patients with cardiac issues or a fib. I think it is scary to allow widespread use of a drug with unknown efficacy based on anecdotal studies with flawed experimental design. I am nervous that inexperienced doctors pressed into unfamiliar territory may prescribe meds that haven't been properly vetted to patients that would not benefit.
I hope that it is the drug it looks to be from these small studies. I am always skeptical of "wonder drugs" or "cures" that seem to good to be true. I am hopeful that the combined research, work and effort of our worlds brightest minds will find a good, well researched, treatment for this disease.
