from Hacker News

Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy in treating Covid-19

by weekay on 3/13/20, 6:02 AM with 165 comments

  • by shoyer on 3/13/20, 7:01 AM

    For a slightly more balanced perspective, try this paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016635422...:

    Highlights from that paper (all of which look quite reasonable to me, as a non-expert):

    • In vitro data suggest that chloroquine inhibits SARS Cov-2 replication.

    • In past research, chloroquine has shown in vitro activity against many different viruses, but no benefit in animal models.

    • Chloroquine has been proposed several times for the treatment of acute viral diseases in humans without success.

    • The outcomes of some current clinical trials of chloroquine in China have been announced, without access to the data.

    • Peer review of the results and an independent assessment of the potential benefit for patients are essential.

  • by baybal2 on 3/13/20, 8:01 AM

    > • The outcomes of some current clinical trials of chloroquine in China have been announced, without access to the data.

    Shameless tangent, China has just booted its most competent respiratory disease epidemiologist from heading epidemic control committee for not backing Xi Jinping's "herbal remedies"

    https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3895540

  • by Sylamore on 3/13/20, 6:52 AM

    I've been watching the videos in this youtube channel today, where the last couple of videos have talked about this finding : https://youtu.be/U7F1cnWup9M and https://youtu.be/vE4_LsftNKM

    Basically the goal is to allow zinc to get into a cell, it needs a helper to get inside the cell (a Zinc Ionophore). Apparently based on the 2nd video, Hydroxychloroquine is even more effective than Chloroquine. It's really important to note however that these are lab based findings, not from studies on patients.

  • by babayega2 on 3/13/20, 9:44 AM

    In Africa when you suffer from Malaria they gradually give you Chloroquine, Amodiaquine or even Quinine. From my experience, Quinine is the strongest. I grew up taking those medicines. Man. They knock you out. Your ears are no longer working the first 3 days of taking Quinine. You lose the sense of smell. I guess they slow down the Corona 19 virus. My mom has already sent me Amodiaquine and Quinine here in Italy.

  • by blacksqr on 3/13/20, 2:44 PM

    South Korea experts recommend anti-HIV, anti-malaria drugs for COVID-19 [1]

    Mentioned:

    Kaletra, an anti-HIV medication that includes the drugs lopinavir and ritonavir.

    Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil.

    [1] https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/03/12/South-Kor...

  • by 0xff00ffee on 3/13/20, 4:15 PM

    Chloroquine is a really interesting drug because it is derived from quinine which is one of those "early history medicine man/woman" kinda things (Quechas) that turned out to be effective for two things: antiviral properties and great taste.

    * It was used for centuries to combat malaria until it recently (~10yrs) became ineffective (I took some in the 80's for a year while working in Central America and had amazing dreams).

    * It is the basis many awesome aperitifs: Byrrh, Bonal, [tonic water,] and other herbaceous spirits

    If it can be used as an antiviral for COVID-19, well, that would be a really cool example of an old/ancient medicine still doin' its thing.

  • by herf on 3/13/20, 4:18 PM

    Paper's main source seems to be a news briefing in Chinese.

    Here's google translate: "We organized more than a dozen hospitals in Beijing, Guangdong and Hunan provinces to jointly evaluate the safety and effectiveness of chloroquine phosphate in the treatment of new coronary pneumonia. In the clinic, we are very sure to see the curative effect, whether it is from the rate of exacerbation, antipyretic phenomenon or the image improvement time of the lungs, the negative time and negative rate of viral nucleic acid, and the shortening of the disease course, and a series of indicators, systematically Based on comprehensive research, the medication group was better than the control group. For example, a patient in Beijing was admitted to the hospital on the 4th day of the onset of disease at the age of 54. One week after taking the medicine, the nucleic acid turned negative, and all the indicators improved, meeting the criteria for release and isolation."

    "Audio transcript of the news briefing held by the State Council of China on February 17, 2020. The National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/yqfkdt/202002/f12a62d10c2a48c6895c... (accessed February 18, 2020). (in Chinese)"

    Third reference in https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bst/advpub/0/advpub_202...

  • by Cantbekhan on 3/13/20, 7:35 AM

    This is old news by this time. As I commented on previous threads. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22534339

    Yes chloroquine has been shown effective in vitro (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0). Yes hydroxichloroquine has been shown effective in vitro very recently as well (https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid...).

    Yes both compounds are already actively being used and approved for use by Asian and EU countries against Covid19:

    Here are the Netherlands treatment guidelines (in Dutch): https://lci.rivm.nl/covid-19/bijlage/medicamenteuze-behandel...

    Here are the Italy treatment guidelines (in Italian): http://www.simit.org/medias/1555-covid19-linee-guida-trattam...

    How they found out about it: https://www.jqknews.com/news/388543-The_novel_coronavirus_pn...

    Approval and recommendation of the chinese: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32075365-expert-consensus-on... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32074550-breakthrough-chloro...

    I don't think there is much doubt left about it's efficiency at this stage. Hydroxichloroquine is much safer than chloroquine and it's just a 5 day course at pretty low dosage (2x400mg on day1 as a charge dose, then 2x200mg for 4 days).

    More importantly, the drug is readily available, mass producded and doesn't cost 300$+/box like lopinavir/ritonavir. This drug isn't also 100% experimental and probably in the 3 digits rangs like remdesivir.

    The only real issue is that with a lot of doctors using it, the temporary shortage of the drug could be troublesome for many Lupus patients around the world who depend on Plaquenil for their management.

  • by tim333 on 3/13/20, 9:08 PM

    That paper is old and a bit vague. A more recent report is from a trial with 120 patients at Sun Shanxian Memorial Hospital. 110 got better with chloroquine, the hospital's coronavirus tests showed negative on average 4.4 days after starting treatment.

    Report "Expert: Chloroquine Phosphate has a negative time of 4.4 days, faster than other drugs" (google translate) http://news.southcn.com/nfplus/gdjktt/content/2020-03/09/con...

    I posted it on reddit (271 comments) https://www.reddit.com/r/COVID19/comments/ffztou/expert_chlo...

  • by hkt on 3/13/20, 11:48 AM

    This seems pretty inconclusive to me; as noted by other posters, we have no data from some of the trials in China and peer review of the potential patient benefits hasn't materialised yet. Not trying to be a downer, but..

    As an aside, the number of preppers and conspiracy theorists out on HN under stories like this is awful.

    Remember, the world has vast infrastructures (CDC, WHO, NHS and equivalents) for working out the right course of action in these situations. They are staffed by professionals who understand how medicine and medical trials work, and how and when to deploy public health measures. I'm not saying their word is law, but hanging out on internet forums and then panic buying random stuff which isn't obviously efficacious off the back of a misunderstanding of the science is not personally or socially productive. At worst, it harms people in genuine need and stymies the ability of society to respond.

  • by ustamills on 3/13/20, 9:53 AM

    Isn't that the "tonic" in "Gin & Tonic" ?

  • by easytiger on 3/13/20, 6:59 AM

    https://factcheck.afp.com/chloroquine-has-not-been-approved-...

    Some enterprising Nigerian has apparently been trying to illegally sell it in the UK at least.

  • by known on 3/14/20, 5:14 AM

    Chloroquine, a drug mostly used against malaria, was shown in the 2000s to have some effect on SARS-CoV; in cell-culture studies it both reduces the virus’s ability to get into cells and its ability to reproduce once inside them, possibly by altering the acidity of the Golgi apparatus http://archive.vn/yfAWD

  • by mnm1 on 3/13/20, 4:56 PM

    Can this be used off label now? Or do we have to wait for our incompetent bureaucracy again, like with the testing, while ignoring tools that work?

  • by mdoval on 3/15/20, 3:39 AM

    One more reason to love gin and tonic! I had a feeling this old-time, classic drink crafted by the British to make malaria prophylaxis quinine more palatable and fun in colonial times, in India I believe, was a winner. From the bark of "cinchona" trees in Peru, quinine derivatives, are now showing some promise to treat SARS Cov-2. This is quite amazing.

  • by retinadoc on 3/14/20, 2:30 AM

    From the virologist who recognized Chloroquine as an anti-viral in 2006: https://medium.com/@savesightmd/an-old-drug-for-the-new-viru...

  • by bschultz on 3/19/20, 5:35 PM

  • by newsbinator on 3/13/20, 7:39 AM

    I can't seem to find information on whether Chloroquine would be taken prophylactically to be effective, or only after diagnosis and symptoms appear.

  • by procinct on 3/13/20, 10:00 AM

    How long would we expect it to take to find out if this is something that can widely be used to combat Covid-19?

  • by rrggrr on 3/13/20, 9:03 AM

    Zinc. Chloroquine provides zinc and ionosphere for absorbtion that likely stops replicase.

  • by ocean1 on 3/14/20, 8:05 PM

    Has anyone true evidence that drinking Gin reduces the risk of a Corona infection

  • by tanilama on 3/13/20, 10:13 AM

    Let us see how CDC will use this drug and do not make our own conclusions. If it helps it helps.

  • by allovernow on 3/13/20, 7:32 AM

    Honestly this is a perfect example of a time when laws are excessively restrictive. I should have the right to purchase this drug and use it as a last resort in the case that I or my family are infected.

    It's not fair to responsible people who are capable of researching safety and dosages to have to pay for the ignorance of others. Especially when this drug is OTC in most of the world. You don't need a medical degree to safely administer most drugs - and you should have the right to take that risk, even if that means ignorant people getting hurt or dying.

  • by weekay on 3/13/20, 6:04 AM

    Chloroquine phosphate, an old drug for treatment of malaria, is shown to have apparent efficacy and acceptable safety against COVID-19 associated pneumonia in multicenter clinical trials conducted in China. The drug is recommended to be included in the next version of the Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Pneumonia Caused by COVID-19 issued by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China for treatment of COVID-19 infection in larger populations in the future.

  • by mirekrusin on 3/13/20, 7:39 AM

    Crypto is great, you can see from price charts when they found potential cure. Bit like twitter, but faster.