https://www.geekwire.com/2020/uw-medicine-conduct-clinical-trial-hydroxychloroquine-covid-19-patients/UW Medicine to conduct clinical trial for hydroxychloroquine with COVID patientsBY ALAN BOYLE on April 24, 2020 at 4:22 pm
The University of Washington School of Medicine is looking for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to participate in a clinical trial aimed at finding out whether a controversial drug called hydroxychloroquine can keep them from having to be hospitalized.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs’ study involved patients who were being hospitalized for COVID-19. UW Medicine’s study, in contrast, will focus on patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 but aren’t sick enough to be in a hospital. The new study will be randomized, unlike the VA study, which should lead to more reliable results.
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The trial will gauge the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as well as a combination of the drug with azithromycin, an antibiotic.
Two cohorts of outpatients will be enrolled in the trial, in high-risk and low-risk categories. Patients who are older than 60 or have underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity or lung problems are considered high-risk. Patients who are aged 18 through 59 without such conditions are considered low-risk.
No mention of zinc sulfate, but the chosen patients seem to be ones not experiencing the problem the zinc is intended to alleviate. Two definitely good aspects are that the tested patients and the "control group" patients will be of similar health condition and that patients will be sub-grouped, dividing those with risk factors and those without.
