Malaria drug sees promising signs as future coronavirus treatment

A drug originally developed to treat malaria is showing signs that it may also cure infections of the coronavirus, though much more testing is needed.

Researchers and virologists in France have completed a clinical trial studying the effects of hydroxychloroquine, used to treat arthritis, malaria, and other ailments, on patients with COVID-19. Researchers treated a total of 26 coronavirus patients with the drug, including six that were given the antibiotic azithromycin, as well.

The researchers released their findings in a study published on Wednesday. The results showed that all six patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin tested negative for the virus after six days. Of the 20 treated with just hydroxychloroquine, 57.1% tested negative for the coronavirus after six days. Just 12.5% of the control group made up of 16 other patients tested negative.

"Despite its small sample size our survey shows that hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients and its effect is reinforced by azithromycin," the study said.

Didier Raoult, an infectious disease expert from l’Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire in Marseille, led the research team that conducted the study. Gregory Rigano, an adviser to the Stanford University School of Medicine SPARK Translational Research Program, is leading a program based on Raoult’s results to study the effects of hydroxychloroquine on treating COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Anthony Fauci is the leading expert in the United States on infectious diseases and has downplayed the existence of a cure and has said that many drugs are currently being tested that may lessen the severity of the coronavirus. The best medical tool doctors can hope for is a vaccine, which Fauci said is about a year to 18 months away from completion.

Rigano touted the results of the study on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on Wednesday, claiming that hydroxychloroquine used with azithromycin is the second 100% cure for a virus ever found. Rigano also called on President Trump to "authorize the use of hydroxychloroquine against coronavirus immediately."

The program is hosted by Tucker Carlson, whom the president often watches and calls on for advice. Carlson reportedly shifted Trump’s approach to the coronavirus, now a worldwide pandemic, by calling the disease "a very serious problem" in a March 9 monologue urging the administration and viewers not to panic but to prepare for "a painful period we are powerless to stop."

SOURCE: Pearce, Tim. "Malaria drug sees promising signs as future coronavirus treatment." Washington Examiner, 18 March 2020, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/malaria-drug-sees-promising-signs-as-future-coronavirus-treatment