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SCIENCE Monday 20 July 2020
New studies clarify what drugs help, hurt for COVID-19

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE as steroids and hydroxy-
AP Chief Medical Writer chloroquine.
Fresh studies give more Meanwhile, Gilead Sci-
information about what ences, the company that
treatments do or don't work makes remdesivir, which
for COVID-19, with high- is given as an IV now, has
quality methods that give started testing an inhaled
reliable results. version that would allow
British researchers on Friday it to be tried in less ill CO-
published their research on VID-19 patients to try to
the only drug shown to im- keep them from getting
prove survival -- a cheap sick enough to need hos-
steroid called dexametha- pitalization. Gilead also has
sone. Two other studies started testing remdesivir in
found that the malaria a small group of children.
drug hydroxychloroquine Supplies are very limited,
does not help people with and the U.S. government is
only mild symptoms. allocating doses to hospi-
For months before studies tals through September.q
like these, learning what
helps or harms has been
undermined by "despera-
tion science" as doctors
and patients tried therapies
on their own or through a
host of studies not strong
enough to give clear an-
swers.
"For the field to move for- This Tuesday, June 16, 2020 file photo shows a bottle and box for dexamethasone in a pharmacy
ward and for patients' out- in Omaha, Neb.
comes to improve, there Associated Press
will need to be fewer small
or inconclusive studies" and usual care. on hydroxychloroquine had, the risk of worsening
more like the British one, It reduced deaths by 36% had died versus 23.5% giv- and needing hospitaliza-
Drs. Anthony Fauci and H. for patients sick enough to en usual care -- a differ- tion, or the time until recov-
Clifford Lane of the Nation- need breathing machines: ence so small it could have ery.
al Institutes of Health wrote 29% on the drug died ver- occurred by chance A similar study by University
in the New England Journal sus 41% given usual care. It Now, details published on of Minnesota doctors in An-
of Medicine. curbed the risk of death by a research site for scientists nals of Internal Medicine of
It's now time to do more 18% for patients needing show that the drug may 423 mildly ill COVID-19 pa-
studies comparing treat- just supplemental oxygen: have done harm. Patients tients found that hydroxy-
ments and testing com- 23% on the drug died ver- given hydroxychloroquine chloroquine did not sub-
binations, said Dr. Peter sus 26% of the others. were less likely to leave the stantially reduce symptom
Bach, a health policy ex- However, it seemed harm- hospital alive within 28 days severity and brought more
pert at Memorial Sloan Ket- ful at earlier stages or mild- -- 60% on the drug versus side effects. "It is time to
tering Cancer Center in er cases of illness: 18% of 63% given usual care. Those move on" from treating pa-
New York. those on the drug died ver- not needing breathing ma- tients with this drug, Dr. Neil
Here are highlights of re- sus 14% of those given usual chines when they started Schluger from New York
cent treatment develop- care. treatment also were more Medical College wrote in a
ments: The clarity of who does and likely to end up on one or commentary in the journal.
DEXAMETHASONE does not benefit "prob- to die. REMDESIVIR
The British study, led by the ably will result in many lives Two other experiments The only other therapy
University of Oxford, tested saved," Fauci and Lane found that early treatment that's been shown to help
a type of steroid widely wrote. with the drug did not help COVID-19 patients is rem-
used to tamp down inflam- HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE outpatients with mild CO- desivir, an antiviral that
mation, which can be- The same Oxford study also VID-19. shortens hospitalization by
come severe and prove tested hydroxychloroquine A study of 293 people from about four days on aver-
fatal in later stages of CO- in a rigorous manner and Spain published in the jour- age.
VID-19. researchers previously said nal Clinical Infectious Dis- "The role of remdesivir in
About 2,104 patients given it did not help hospitalized eases found no significant severe COVID is now what
the drug were compared patients with COVID-19. differences in reducing the we need to figure out,"
to 4,321 patients getting After 28 days, about 25.7% amount of virus patients Memorial Sloan Kettering's
Bach wrote in an email,
saying the drug needs to
be tested in combination
with dexamethasone now.
Details of the government-
led remdesivir study have
not yet been published,
but researchers are eager
to see how many patients
received other drugs such