What is a 'randomized controlled trial', and why are the positive results of Hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 greeted with skepticism?

Washington Examiner via MSN ^ | 09/18/2020 | David Hogberg

[SeekAndFind]

Once an obscure and highly technical term, it first entered common parlance when, in mid-March, President Trump suggested hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Physicians and scientists said that randomized controlled trials involving the drug would be needed before we could know whether it was an effective treatment.

More recently, media coverage of a possible coronavirus vaccine has often mentioned the term, noting that vaccines must go through such trials before the Food and Drug Administration will approve them.

Indeed, it has become prominent in the news since the pandemic began. Typing the term into the search engine Google and selecting "News" will yield more than 146,000 results. A search of the Washington Examiner finds 20 articles using the term since March. We often write that it is "considered the gold standard in medical research."

But what, exactly, is a randomized controlled trial?

In summary, it is a scientific experiment in which patients are randomly assigned to receive either a specific treatment or a placebo. Sometimes, patients are assigned to a third group that receives the best available treatment that has been tested by previous research. That way, the new treatment can be compared to the most effective established treatment.

Ultimately, it will inform researchers about the efficacy and safety of a specific treatment. Researchers will be able to determine whether the treatment is more effective than no treatment or the best established treatment. They will also be able to better understand what side effects the treatment may have.

Assigning patients randomly enables researchers to eliminate certain sources of bias that could otherwise confound the results.

[Mom MD]

off label use is one thing. Proving the drug effective is another you can do lots if things off iq do that don’t work. if the question is does it work you need trials to know. Just because everyone thinks something works does not necessarily mean it does