Well said. A President should not be a rubber stamp. He should take input from various sources, then make executive decisions. That's literally his job.
As for the drug, remember they say the best results are when you combine it with Azithromycin and Zinc. So if they trials are not doing that, then they will not show great results.
Lovin it! I don't know how closely you've been following Dr Zelenko's study of HCQ zinc and azithromycin in NYC, but he's been hired by Israel Russia and Ukraine to lead their response teams. And they're actually following his recommendations.
The first 600 people in the study got better results than after 900 people; he also lowered the dosage of HCQ on that last batch of 300 people. The first 600 got:
up to 800 mg HCQ the first 2 days, then the next 3 days 400 mg. Some people continued longer with all 3 parts of the "cocktail." The only change was the last batch of 300 people got 400 mg HCQ, and everyone was done getting medicine in 5 days.
220 mg zinc sulfate 1x day
500 mg azithromycin 1 x day
After 900 people, only 350 had been given medication. I didn't realize that after the first 600 people so I can't give that number for the first 600 people studied so the comparison isn't great. Who did vs didn't get medicine was based on the Drs perceived need, not a defined control group. Nobody under 60 got medicine unless they also had an underlying health condition that makes them high risk, and in this regard he agrees with everybody else as to what those conditions are.
After 900 people the results were:
0 dead
3 intubated, all of which were 70+. 2 of them came off the ventilator. After 600 there were 0 on a ventilator.
6 hospitalized. I forget how many of those had already been discharged. Again all 70+. After 600 there were only 3 in the hospital.
So I think it's easy to conclude that an extra pill or two of HCQ for the first two days does a lot of good in at least some cases. Still not perfect results, but hard to ask for better I think. Far and away the most significant study completed so far.
Not even talking about FDA approval for specific application here. Dead vs not dead is valid science, not mere anecdote. The numbers for both kept out of the hospital and never needing a ventilator are perfectly consistent with "flattening the curve." Patient outcome should be a key consideration too, I'd think.
DJT isn't going to stifle the pursuit of any medical advancement; deciding to stop research on any treatment, drug, or vaccine is not his job. The only real downside to this "cocktail" is those at risk of heart arrhythmia. Dr Zelenko's never seen it as a side effect and neither has any of his colleagues; that includes people prescribed for long term use. He does screen for that, and doesn't prescribe for people with that risk. So as a business decision, I think it would make sense to pick the one drug in development that has the least problems in that regard, bring that to market, and stop pouring money into the rest. But it's their money to burn.
The other side effects don't have time to present problems in 5 days of medication.
Also you may not be aware that over 3,000 patients severely infected with covid-19 were studied on various forms of chloroquine before we ever heard of any of this. All did well. I read all the studies. The Chinese knew at least 15 years ago that chloroquine cures things like this.
I got so angry/pissed at that question, and a little bummed Trump didn't just come back with a snarky comment like "we've been using this FDA approved drug for over half a century, and already have decades-worth of data on how safe it is, its minimal side effects, etc"
Well said. A President should not be a rubber stamp. He should take input from various sources, then make executive decisions. That's literally his job.
As for the drug, remember they say the best results are when you combine it with Azithromycin and Zinc. So if they trials are not doing that, then they will not show great results.
Very astute pede !!
Thank you for this info. This should probably be stickied.
Lovin it! I don't know how closely you've been following Dr Zelenko's study of HCQ zinc and azithromycin in NYC, but he's been hired by Israel Russia and Ukraine to lead their response teams. And they're actually following his recommendations.
The first 600 people in the study got better results than after 900 people; he also lowered the dosage of HCQ on that last batch of 300 people. The first 600 got:
up to 800 mg HCQ the first 2 days, then the next 3 days 400 mg. Some people continued longer with all 3 parts of the "cocktail." The only change was the last batch of 300 people got 400 mg HCQ, and everyone was done getting medicine in 5 days.
220 mg zinc sulfate 1x day
500 mg azithromycin 1 x day
After 900 people, only 350 had been given medication. I didn't realize that after the first 600 people so I can't give that number for the first 600 people studied so the comparison isn't great. Who did vs didn't get medicine was based on the Drs perceived need, not a defined control group. Nobody under 60 got medicine unless they also had an underlying health condition that makes them high risk, and in this regard he agrees with everybody else as to what those conditions are.
After 900 people the results were:
0 dead
3 intubated, all of which were 70+. 2 of them came off the ventilator. After 600 there were 0 on a ventilator.
6 hospitalized. I forget how many of those had already been discharged. Again all 70+. After 600 there were only 3 in the hospital.
So I think it's easy to conclude that an extra pill or two of HCQ for the first two days does a lot of good in at least some cases. Still not perfect results, but hard to ask for better I think. Far and away the most significant study completed so far.
Not even talking about FDA approval for specific application here. Dead vs not dead is valid science, not mere anecdote. The numbers for both kept out of the hospital and never needing a ventilator are perfectly consistent with "flattening the curve." Patient outcome should be a key consideration too, I'd think.
DJT isn't going to stifle the pursuit of any medical advancement; deciding to stop research on any treatment, drug, or vaccine is not his job. The only real downside to this "cocktail" is those at risk of heart arrhythmia. Dr Zelenko's never seen it as a side effect and neither has any of his colleagues; that includes people prescribed for long term use. He does screen for that, and doesn't prescribe for people with that risk. So as a business decision, I think it would make sense to pick the one drug in development that has the least problems in that regard, bring that to market, and stop pouring money into the rest. But it's their money to burn.
The other side effects don't have time to present problems in 5 days of medication.
Also you may not be aware that over 3,000 patients severely infected with covid-19 were studied on various forms of chloroquine before we ever heard of any of this. All did well. I read all the studies. The Chinese knew at least 15 years ago that chloroquine cures things like this.
I got so angry/pissed at that question, and a little bummed Trump didn't just come back with a snarky comment like "we've been using this FDA approved drug for over half a century, and already have decades-worth of data on how safe it is, its minimal side effects, etc"
Just commenting for visibility