I read the preliminary reports of the study.
Of the two drug regimens, the high dose chloroquine regimen actually had a higher fatality rate compared to the lower chloroquine regimen. That's because no drug is 100% safe. Chloroquine has its own side effects. So it actually increased the mortality when given compared to the lower dose regimen due to cardiac insult. That's why they
stopped the high dose regimen. Let that sink it.
The second lower dose regimen is being continue but there is no control arm to test if the drug is effective as the Brazilian state has mandated that HCQ must be used as a treatment for the disease. So there is no control arm to test the effectiveness of the drug. Contrast it with how our ICMR explicitly recommended against HCQ before testing proves the efficacy of the drug. So we will never be able to arrive at a conclusion on how effective HCQ was from this low drug regimen either as there is no control to check it against.
That's why I was so ecstatic about ICMR announcement- HCQs are not recommended as treatment before definitive proof of the drug efficacy is established. That's not to say that ICMR has banned the use of HCQs. Our hospitals continue to use it on their discretion as a experimental drug. That's fine as we need to test its efficacy and this is the way to do it before implementing the treaent protocol on a large scale.this is how science worked you test a theory, run tests and arrive at results before implementing the results on a large scale. You don't do treatment on your whims and wishes. But making it compulsory like brazilians did or how Trump moron wants to do is just insane. This is also the reason I was so happy with the way ICMR handled the HCQ issue- their response was perfectly scientific as it should get recommend against it till scientific data makes it clear while not outright banning it, just like how US FDA has done( of course some idiots here outright took it as me being mean and selfish- typical personal attack in the face of evidence
) . As I said guys, Indian govt approach to this disease/pandemic is probably the best in the world. Hats off to our govt and epidemic response once again.