The scientific journal European Journal of Epidemiology, published on 9 review of studies on the potential effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in preventing Covid19. The study selected 88 researches that passed a filter, leaving 11 works:
- Seven who administered the substance before the person had the new coronavirus;
- Four where people took hydroxychloroquine after becoming infected.
The selection of these 11 studies included only studies that are known as the “gold standard” of drug research: randomized, placebocontrolled, doubleblind. In this type of study, the administration of the drug is random: part of the group receives a placebo (like a flour pill, with no effect) and the other receives the drug to be tested, but neither the patient nor the researcher know what is being administered.
The survey, which included seven studies, showed that patients who took the drug before becoming infected reduced the risk of Covid19 getting worse by 28%. The analysis of the four studies showed that the results are practically nil.
Among the five authors, two are from Harvard University, one of the most respected in the world. One of them is the scientist Xabier GarciaDeAlbeniz, study leader and research associate in the University’s Department of Epidemiology. Another is Miguel Hernan, a faculty member in epidemiology and biostatistics at HarvardMIT’s Department of Health Sciences and Technology, who is also director of CAUSALab, a Harvard institution dedicated to guiding public policy.
The researchers lamented the lack of further scientific work on the case. “Early on in the pandemic, it was premature to conclude that hydroxychloroquine had no prophylactic effect, although the correct conclusion would be that the estimated effect was very imprecise,” reports the study.
The text cites research on hydroxychloroquine since the start of the Covid19 pandemic using small samples, which has been challenged in terms of trial design. At the time, the drug was discredited by the scientific community and by the media, which labeled the drug’s defenders as “deniers.” For the study authors, this should not have happened.
Also read: “The solution that defeated ideology”, report published in Issue 3 of Revista Oeste