Real science. Argue with the authors on their terms, which is how real science works, or shut up. From Flavio A.Cadegiani, AndyGoren, Carlos G.Wambier, and JohnMcCoy at “New Microbes and New Infections” via sciencedirect.com:
Highlights
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Subjects with early COVID-19 treated with azithromycin combined with nitazoxanide, ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine showed overwhelming improvements compared to sex-, age-, disease-, and comorbidities-matched untreated patients.
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Improvements with early treatments include reduction of up to 36.5% in viral shedding (p < 0.0001), 85% in disease duration (p < 0.0001), 95% in post-COVID symptoms, and 100% in respiratory complications, hospitalization, mechanical ventilations, deaths (p < 0.0001 for all). For every 1,000 confirmed cases for COVID-19, at least 140 hospitalizations, 50 mechanical ventilations and five deaths were prevented with treatment.
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Because of the unquestionable benefits of the combination between early COVID-19 detection and early pharmacological approaches and the well-established safety profile of the drugs employed in the treatment regimens for COVID-19, it has become ethically questionable to conduct further studies employing full placebo arms in early COVID-19.
Abstract
In a prospective observational study (pre-AndroCoV Trial), the use of nitazoxanide, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine demonstrated unexpected improvements in COVID-19 outcomes, when compared to untreated patients. The apparent yet likely positive results raised ethical concerns on the employment of further full placebo84 controlled studies in early stage COVID-19. The present analysis aimed to elucidate whether full placebo-control randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on early-stage COVID-19 are still ethically acceptable, through a comparative analysis with two control87 groups. Active group (AG) consisted of patients enrolled in the Pre AndroCoV-Trial (n = 585). Control Group 1 (CG1) consisted of a retrospectively obtained group of untreated patients of the same population (n = 137), and Control Group 2 (CG2) resulted from a precise prediction of clinical outcomes based on a thorough and structured review of indexed articles and official statements. Patients were matched for sex, age, comorbidities and disease severity at baseline. Compared to CG1 and CG2 AG showed reduction of 31.5-36.5% in viral shedding (p < 0.0001), 70-85% in disease duration (p < 0.0001), and 100% in respiratory complications, hospitalization, mechanical ventilations, and deaths (p < 0.0001 for all). For every 1,000 confirmed cases for COVID-19, at least 70 hospitalizations, 50 mechanical ventilations and five deaths were prevented. Benefits from the combination of early COVID-19 detection and early pharmacological approaches were consistent and overwhelming when compared to untreated groups, which, together with and well-established safety profile of the drug combinations tested in the Pre-AndroCoV Trial, precluded our study to continue employing full placebo in early COVID-19.
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