Early treatment of 1061 COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin
That's the abstract of a pending article describing the outcome of 1061 patients treated with the HCQ-AZ combination.
In short:
Virus no longer detected in 92% of patients within 10 days. All but one survivor virus free after 15 days.
Poor outcome in 4.4% (47 patients): 31 required > 10 days in hospital, 10 transferred to ICU, 5 patients died (0.47%).
Of the poor outcomes 25 patients recovered. In all to date 98% cured.
Worse outcome associated with higher age (risk ratio only 1:1.1), low serum concentration of HCQ, use of beta-blockers or Angiotensin II receptor blocker*.
Mortality with the HCQ/AZ regimens significantly lower than other treatment modalities at the same clinic and other hospitals in Marseille (p < 0.01, thus, likelihood of these results occurring by chance less than 1 in a 100.)
*This result is very interesting. It is thought that the virus enter the cells via the Angiotensin receptor, thus a blocker of this receptor ought to stop the virus from entering. However, it has been shown that receptor blockers increase the amount of receptors, thus, possibly making it easier for the virus to enter the cells. IIRC University of Minnesota was going to start a controlled study on A-receptor blockers. May not be such a good idea....
No cardiac toxicity was observed.