A High Stakes Game
If the trials of the anti-malarial chloroquine (or variants) work, Trump will get away with all the understatements he said in February.
On twitter the combination of Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are known as #TrumpPills. The trials started Tuesday. We don’t know the results but doctors are buying up pharmacy stocks across the US — presumably to protect themselves (hopefully).
As the death tolls mounts, the Democrats are surely planning to put all the Trump quotes like “it’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle” on high rotation leading up to the election. But if the trials of anti-viral agents bring good news, he can reframe the past as if he was betting on that in February. (Perhaps he was?)
Though not many people spend two trillion dollars on a problem that’s disappearing.
Combo of existing drugs shows promise against COVID-19
Most patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone cleared the virus in three to six days, compared to an average of 20 in China — …
The authors advise: “Use this treatment cocktail early, and don’t wait until a patient is on a ventilator in the intensive-care unit.” They also note that in some places hydroxychloroquine is being used as a prophylactic treatment for health workers in high exposure situations.
Key takeaway: “Our experience suggests that hydroxychloroquine, with or without a Z-Pak, should be a first-line treatment. Unfortunately, there is already a shortage of hydroxychloroquine.
Just as we think we’ve got used to the rate-of-change of the rate-of-change, things might change the other way.
Bloomberg reports that a new study shows Chloroquine Is No Better Than Regular Coronavirus Care. But under the headline they reveal that that new study wasn’t statistically significant, involved only 30 people, and that regular Chinese care includes other anti-virals like lopinavir and ritonavir. In other words, it was not much of a trial.
The whole world will be watching these results. Spare a thought for Indonesia which has ordered 3 million chloroquine tablets in a population of 260 million people and where people are falling in the streets today.
But if it’s not Chloroquine, there are plenty of other possibles: like blood plasma from survivors.