According to the NY Post, "Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a CNN interview Thursday evening that “there are no proven safe and effective therapies for the coronavirus.” But “that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to do everything we can to make things that have even a hint of efficacy more readily available.”
I trained under Dr. Fauci at the NIH. I respect Dr. Fauci for his major contributions to HIV and to autoimmune disease therapy. Tangentially, for 4 years, I worked in a building across from Dr. Fauci’s building. He drove a beat-up car, worth only a little more than my piece of merde car. For ID docs, that’s a badge of honor.
Each morning, I looked to see if I beat Dr. Fauci to work, and then each night, I looked to see if I had stayed longer. If I had done both, I knew I had put in a hard day’s work. For those outside the beltway, Dr. Fauci typically worked >12 hours per day.
That being said, I respectfully disagree with Dr. Fauci’s analysis of the available data. Dr. Fauci also recommended that “people only try these meds in “controlled” environments.” I strongly disagree with this statement. I think everyone who may have COVID-19 should receive HCQ, provided they have no contraindication to receiving the drug. We KNOW controlled study data are coming or already exist. Instead of minimizing the significance of these data, if in his large shoes, I would ask China, South Korea and Australia for the data they have to date. China has already published negative data, in THE New England Journal of Medicine, on Kaletra, an HIV drug thought to work against COVID-19. Over 4 weeks ago, China stated that CQ works against COVID-19 in a controlled study. It is time for China, South Korea and Australia to show us your cards, however, raw the data might be.
Do we believe China when they say Kaletra doesn’t work, but not when they say CQ does? That makes no sense.
For background, chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are anti-malaria drugs. HCQ, also known as Plaquenil, is also used in pts with Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. HCQ is a modified form of CQ. They are safe drugs and have been around much longer than even I.
Ok, what do we know? China announced on Feb 17th that CQ, compared to no antiviral therapy, worked.
South Korea and Australia have each said that HCQ works, again in controlled studies.
The French data have actually published data, meaning they are not anecdotal. The French data, to be sure, are limited, but impressive.
In this study -
· 16 control pts received no antiviral therapy;
· 14 pts received only HCQ, and;
· 6 who received HCG and azithromycin.
Each pt was tested daily for SARS-CoV-2 in their nose. (Nasal swab)
The French investigators were looking to see if HCQ improved viral clearance. HCQ pts cleared virus much more quickly than the control group. By Day 6, 57% of the HCQ only pts had cleared virus and only 12.5% of controls had. 100% of pt, who were treated with HCQ AND azithromycin, cleared virus by Day 5. These data, although small in numbers, are statistically significant.
By the way, what's the downside of HCQ for COVID-19 pts?