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Prophylactic Study: Hydroxychloroquine no more effective than placebo in preventing COVID-19; Front-line health workers had similar infection rates whether they took a daily regimen of hydroxychloroquine or not
Eureka Alert ^ | 09/30/2020 | UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Posted on 09/30/2020 8:32:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

In a clinical trial testing whether a daily regimen of hydroxychloroquine could protect those most likely to be exposed to COVID-19, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found there was no difference in infection rates among health care workers who took the drug versus those taking a placebo. While the researchers observed a lack of effect associated with hydroxychloroquine, infection levels were low among the participants, which the researchers believe points to the effectiveness of other prevention measures in the health system: social distancing, use of personal protective equipment, and proper hand hygiene. The study was published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"This work represents the first randomized trial of hydroxychloroquine's prophylactic effect for those not yet exposed to COVID-19," said the study's lead author, Benjamin Abella, MD, MPhil, a professor of Emergency Medicine and the director of Penn Medicine's Center for Resuscitation Science. "And while hydroxychloroquine is an effective drug for the treatment of diseases like lupus and malaria, we saw no differences that would lead us to recommend prescribing it as a preventive medication for COVID-19 in front line workers."

Due to the novel nature of COVID-19, the science and medical communities have had to rapidly assess treatment and prevention measures. One drug that has been considered as a potential preventive solution was hydroxychloroquine, based on laboratory studies that it could prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from entering cells in tissue culture.

As such, Abella, along with the study's senior author Ravi Amaravadi, MD, an associate professor of Medicine in Hematology-Oncology and the program co-Leader of Cancer Therapeutics at the Abramson Cancer Center, and their co-authors set out to rigorously test whether taking a substantial dose of hydroxychloroquine - 600 milligrams daily for two months- would have an effect on infection rates. They conducted this study among hospital workers that regularly came into contact with COVID-19 patients.

The researchers were able to analyze a pool of 125 physicians, nurses, certified nursing assistants, emergency technicians, and respiratory therapists that they recruited for the study. This population worked in several different areas of the two University hospitals, including the emergency departments and COVID-19 units. Roughly half of the participants in the study took hydroxychloroquine while the other half took a matching placebo (a cellulose pill). The study was double-blinded, meaning neither the researchers, nor the participants knew which drug they were assigned.

Extensive testing was used to rigorously prove who did or did not contract the virus. Each person received swab and antibody testing for COVID-19 at the start of their participation in the study, halfway through, and at the end--an eight-week span during the study period that began April 9 and ended July 14, 2020. Participants also had electrocardiogram (ECG) tests because of concerns about hydroxychloroquine causing heart rhythm problems in severe cases of COVID-19.

"To really test the potential of HCQ as a prevention drug, we felt it was key to recruit health care workers with many hours of direct physical exposure to COVID-19 patients, then randomize them in a double-blind manner between hydroxychloroquine or a matching placebo, and treat them for a long period of time," said Amaravadi. "Through that whole time, we monitored participants closely for their safety."

At the end of the study, 6.3 percent of those who took the hydroxychloroquine had tested positive for COVID-19 while 6.6 percent of those who took the placebos were positive. None required hospitalization. Additionally, there was no difference detected in the heart rhythms between those in either arm of the study, which showed that while the drug had no preventive effect, it was also not detrimental, outside of some temporary side effects like diarrhea for some.

"The differences we saw were negligible," Amaravadi said. "And those who did get the virus, whether they were taking hydroxychloroquine or not, were all asymptomatic or had very mild forms of COVID-19."

While the study was originally slated to recruit 200 health care workers, an analysis along the way showed that a continuation of enrollment would not yield different results. An independent data safety and monitoring board reviewed the findings and concurred.

These results will have an impact on the dozens of planned and ongoing clinical trials around the world that are testing hydroxychloroquine as a prevention for COVID-19 infection in health care workers. While a much larger study could potentially find a different result, the results of the Penn study suggest other forms of prevention, including vaccines, may be worth more attention.

###

Funding for this study came through a philanthropic donation from Leonard and Madlyn Abramson and Mark and Cecilia Vonderheide. Sandoz, a division of Novartis provided the hydroxychloroquine. PCR testing was supported by Quest Diagnostics.

Other Penn authors on this study included Eliana L. Jolkovsky; Barbara T. Biney; Julie E. Uspal, MD; Matthew C. Hyman, MD, PhD; Ian Frank, MD; Scott E. Hensley, PhD; Saar Gill, MD, PhD; Dan T. Vogl, MD; Ivan Maillard, MD, PhD; Daria V. Babushok, MD; Alexander C. Huang, MD, PhD; Sunita D. Nasta, MD; Jennifer C. Walsh; E. Paul Wiletyo, PhD; Phyllis A. Gimotty, PhD; Michael C. Milone, MD, PhD; Shaun K. McGovern; Edith M. Teng; Niraj J. Vyas; Steve Balian, MD; Jonathan A. Kolansky; Abby R. Dolan; Kehinde O. Oyekanmi; Jaldhi S. Patel; Nabil M. Abdulhay; David R. Helfer; Isabelle S. Mullen; Charlotte F. Tisch; Sarah K. Fiordaliso; Rachel McFadden; Sigrid Gouma, PhD; Selene G. Nunez-Cruz, PhD; Olivia Doran; Paul L. Callahan; and Sarah Gamblin.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: covid19; falsepremises; hcqludditeholocaust; hegeliandialectic; hydroxychloroquine; plandemic; prophylaxis
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To: coloradan

Exactly. I would rather see a 3 arm trial which included the combo and far more participants.

And UofP employs Zeke Emmanuel in its’ medical division. And I do not trust an organization that would do that.


21 posted on 09/30/2020 8:45:22 AM PDT by SueRae (An administration like no other.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Isn’t this a bit like saying that a birth control pill doesn’t provide protection against Herpes?


22 posted on 09/30/2020 8:46:10 AM PDT by cdcdawg (Biden has dementia.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“And those who did get the virus, whether they were taking hydroxychloroquine or not, were all asymptomatic or had very mild forms of COVID-19.”

So hey, they just proved that the cure for COVID-19 is to do absolutely nothing! Lets party.

Alternatively, their test population was inappropriate for determining the health benefits of hydroxychloroquine, and the conclusions here are overreaching.


23 posted on 09/30/2020 8:48:16 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: SeekAndFind

This is one of many recent studies that didn’t follow the recipe, HCQ+ZINC+AZT for infections. Failure to utilize Zinc with HCQ will always end in failure and it has been demonstrated.

In Other Words the “Study” is really PROPAGANDA!!!


24 posted on 09/30/2020 8:50:19 AM PDT by eyeamok
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To: Chode

Yes. The Indians have been using it thus for a while.

Here is their technical doc on using it for prophylaxis:
https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/techdoc/V5_Revised_advisory_on_the_use_of_HCQ_SARS_CoV2_infection.pdf


25 posted on 09/30/2020 8:52:29 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: SeekAndFind

Add this to the list: https://c19study.com/


26 posted on 09/30/2020 8:53:39 AM PDT by Cold War Veteran - Submarines
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To: SeekAndFind

At no time has the President, nor anyone I know of, proposed that Hydroxychloroquine was effective at preventing infection of the SARS-CV-2 virus.


27 posted on 09/30/2020 8:58:32 AM PDT by Bryan24 (When in doubt, move to the right..........)
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To: cuban leaf; FreedomPoster

thx


28 posted on 09/30/2020 9:00:02 AM PDT by Chode (Send bachelors and come heavily armed.)
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To: coloradan

It has to be the Hydro cocktail. Every one of these studies that had Hydro as being useless have been with Hydro alone.


29 posted on 09/30/2020 9:00:58 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: Go_Raiders

Very good summation of another fake HCQ study


30 posted on 09/30/2020 9:01:03 AM PDT by Luigi Vasellini (political class.......TERM LIMITS NOW!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: coloradan

Zinc is the missing ingredient in every one of these trials of HCQ a a preventative. Normal daily intake of zinc is less than 10 mg, but a therapeutic dose of at least 50 mg of zinc as ionic zinc is more than enough to overwhelm the corona virus even in heavily contaminated environments, where there is a high concentration of COVID-19 Wuhan virus circulating in the air.

Masks and even face shields are virtually useless in preventing the virus spores from being inhaled, under conditions of heavy contamination in the air.

Give your immune system a chance to act to resist the virus, and the infection will never rise to the symptomatic level.


31 posted on 09/30/2020 9:04:38 AM PDT by alloysteel ("The Best Is Yet to Come "- theme of 2020 RNC)
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To: SeekAndFind

If the test run was the RNA test and 40 cycles, then the real result was 0% infected for both groups so the study is mute. Only participants who were tested positive and were symptomatic should be counted as an infection.


32 posted on 09/30/2020 9:04:47 AM PDT by CMAC51
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To: SeekAndFind

I do not believe their test results.

The African coincidence is too strong evidence that it works.


33 posted on 09/30/2020 9:10:12 AM PDT by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: SeekAndFind
n a clinical trial testing whether a daily regimen of hydroxychloroquine could protect those most likely to be exposed to COVID-19, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found there was no difference in infection rates among health care workers who took the drug versus those taking a placebo.

Good Lord ... wrong Question.
Your IMMUNE System determines if you get sick or not.

Hydroxychloroquine is a potential TREATMENT if you do get sick But, I'm just an engineer, what do I know about medicine? The masks and 6ft spacing are about as effective as the Medieval treatment of hanging a dead rat from your neck; as that would attract the evil humors.

34 posted on 09/30/2020 9:19:41 AM PDT by Hodar (A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.- Burroughs)
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To: Bryan24

The study doesn’t invalidate Hydroxychloroquine as an ameliorating medication for COVID-19. Neither those who took the medicine nor those that received the placebo had any serious symptoms of COVID-19 that required hospitalization. Hydroxychloroquine doesn’t prevent the infection, it just makes survival much more likely, especially when taken with Zinc. The objection from my doctor to prescribing Hydroxychloroquine is that it may cause heart rhythm abnormalities which this study refutes. In the middle 1980’s I routinely took over the counter Chloroquine while exploring for gold in Indonesia to prevent Malaria with no bad effects.


35 posted on 09/30/2020 9:22:20 AM PDT by Indoil
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To: Boomer

“No zinc? Study void.“

Did Didier Raoult use Zn in any of his studies? Are his studies “void”?

Are all of the HCQ prophylaxis studies from India “void”?


36 posted on 09/30/2020 9:28:26 AM PDT by Jim Noble
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To: SeekAndFind

Yet another bogus study. HCQ works by getting more zinc into cells. Don’t take a zinc supplement with it and you haven’t got much zinc to speak of to get into those cells.


37 posted on 09/30/2020 9:36:51 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: SeekAndFind

Oh, and only 125 in the study in total, so just over 60 in each group if evenly divided. With a difference of only 0.3% of infection rate, that is just a fraction of one study participant—so only the difference in the two group sizes not being identical. It looks like they had all of four in each group test positive. But with sketchy testing and lots of false positives, who knows? No matter what, a study where there is no zinc given and only four in each group test positive in the two months anyway is pathetic. Yet AMA publishes this propaganda.


38 posted on 09/30/2020 9:41:28 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Chode
was it ever proposed to be a prophylactic ???

No. It's a treatment once you already have the disease. So it's the wrong question in the first place . . . unless your point is to prolong the fear by saying that the widely available, typically safe treatment is ineffective.

Gee, I wonder who benefits if the economy is doing poorly through the election.

My biggest complaint against Trump is that he has allowed the Deep State bureaucrats to play their game at his expense and at the expense of the American working people. He should have required a statement of success conditions to get the economic freedom back, then showed what each step being taken does to reach those success conditions. Most of has actually been done is about getting the people used to submitting to unConstitutional and meaningless restrictions in personal choices.
39 posted on 09/30/2020 9:42:22 AM PDT by Phlyer
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To: SeekAndFind

Major premise mistake. There is the virus, SARS-2COV, and the disease it may cause, Covid-19. Normally only perhaps 10% (or less) of people with the virus (or traces), as measured by oversensitive PCR test, actually develop symptoms of Covid-19.

We do care who tests positive via PCR for current or old trades of the virus. Just like nobody cares who has traces of the flu virus. We care about symptoms of the disease, and how severe they are. All else is hysterical noise.

HCQ is not meant to prevent or reduce the number of asymptomatic people who test positive on a SARS2-COV2 PCR test. It’s to prevent severe reaction to SARS-COV2 as manifested as Covid-19 Disease.

And nobody in the study, treatment or placebo, got Covid-19 disease. Zip, zero, nada. So the study proved...

NOTHING.

I still have a hard time understanding how stupid people are, including published scientists. Stupid, stupid, stupid.


40 posted on 09/30/2020 9:56:10 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (This is all a Soros funded communist insurrection!)
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