Novartis starts a hydroxychloroquine RCT

Novartis will launch a 450-patient study to determine whether hydroxychloroquine — the malaria medicine repeatedly touted by President Trump — can treat Covid-19, STAT’s Matthew Herper writes. 

The study will be a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study. Patients will be assigned one of three options: Hydroxychloroquine alone, the antimalarial combined with the antibiotic azithromycin, or placebo. 

“We felt like there was just a lot of noise out there regarding whether it would be beneficial for this population of patients that could be really helpful for,” John Tsai, chief medical officer of Novartis, told STAT. “So we want to embark on a rigorous, scientifically led approach to address the unanswered question, which is whether the use of hydroxychloroquine can help patients with Covid-19.” 

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