There’s been a lot of talk lately about whether a drug that treats malaria could also be used to treat patients with COVID-19. So, a Vanderbilt doctor is leading the trial to understand if the drug — hydroxychloroquine — has any potential.
Wesley Self, an emergency physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is working with a network of about 50 medical centers.
“Laboratory studies have suggested that hydroxychloroquine may be a useful drug to treat COVID-19,” Self said in a news release Thursday. “However, we have limited human data to understand if hydroxychloroquine helps patients recover from COVID-19. High-quality clinical trial data are urgently needed to understand the safety and effectiveness of this drug in COVID-19.”
According to the news release, the trial will answer the question of whether giving the drug to COVID-19 patients in hospitals helps them recover faster, without the need of a ventilator or complications.
The study could be completed within a few months.
You can learn more about hydroxychloroquine in NPR interviews with a medicinal chemist and with a rheumatologist.
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