By Valerie Richardson, Washington
USA
An international poll of more than 6,000 doctors released Thursday found
that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine was the most highly rated
treatment for the novel coronavirus.
The survey conducted
by Sermo, a global health care polling company, of 6,227 physicians in 30
countries found that 37% of those treating COVID-19 patients rated
hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” from a list of 15 options.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration gave chloroquine and its next-generation derivative,
hydroxychloroquine, emergency-use authorization Monday for treating the novel
coronavirus, although the drug was already being used off-label by some doctors
and hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
The survey also found
that the most commonly prescribed treatments are analgesics (56%), azithromycin
(41%) and hydroxychloroquine (33%).
Azithromycin, known by
the brand name Zithromax or Z-Pak, was rated the second-most effective therapy
at 32%, followed by “nothing,” analgesics (including acetaminophen), anti-HIV
drugs and cough medicine.
The medicine was most
widely used in Spain, where 72 percent of physicians said they had prescribed
it.
“Outside the US,
hydroxychloroquine was equally used for diagnosed patients with mild to severe
symptoms whereas in the US it was most commonly used for high risk diagnosed
patients,” the survey found.
A debate about
hydroxychloroquine was sparked two weeks ago after President Trump touted the
drug as a possible “game-changer” in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,
prompting critics to accuse him of peddling unproven, untested remedies.
To date, “there is no
evidence” that any medicine “can prevent or cure the disease,” according to the
World Health Organization.
But Sermo CEO Peter
Kirk called the polling results a “treasure trove of global insights for
policymakers.”
“Physicians should have
more of a voice in how we deal with this pandemic and be able to quickly share
information with one another and the world,” he said in a press release.
The 30 countries where
doctors were surveyed included ones in Europe, South America, and Australia —
and no incentives were provided to participate, the company said.
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