He's not only a useless twat but an extremely ill-informed useless twat.
Conclusion
Although this is a retrospective analysis, results suggest that early diagnosis, early isolation and early treatment of COVID-19 patients, with at least 3 days of HCQ-AZ lead to a significantly better clinical outcome and a faster viral load reduction than other treatments.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477893920302817?via=ihub
Mefloquine
In a breakthrough study, a team of scientists--comprising Dr. Koichi Watashi, Kaho Shionoya, Masako Yamasaki, Dr. Hirofumi Ohashi, Dr. Shin Aoki, Dr. Kouji Kuramochi, and Dr. Tomohiro Tanaka from Tokyo University of Science (along with scientists from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Kyushu University, The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, and Science Groove Inc.)--have identified an anti-malarial drug, mefloquine (which is incidentally a derivative of hydrochloroquine), that is effective against SARS-CoV-2. Their findings are published in Frontiers in Microbiology.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/2...s-promise-in-the-battle-against-COVID-19.aspx
What are the implications?
These findings indicate that a steeply rising ferritin, D-dimer and LDH over time predict poor survival, the rate of rise being several times greater for non-survivors. This should be validated to help provide a better prognosis for COVID-19 patients.
The extensive range of obesity among critically ill patients indicates that weight-adjusted dosage is critical in achieving the correct therapeutic levels. Moreover, AZM is an independent contributor to improved survival.
Most importantly, this is the first clinical study to demonstrate the remarkable benefit of using cumulative doses of HCQ>3g/AZM>1g, compared to those not treated with this combination.
Why did such a large effect miss observation?
For one thing, HCQ produces its benefit by cumulative effects on the target cells, which is weight-dependent. The failure to treat patients with weight-adjusted doses leads to ineffective treatment and outcomes biased towards lighter patients.
HCQ is both safe and tolerable at higher doses, as shown in studies of rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Such high doses for such long durations have not been used to treat COVID-19.
The earlier studies claiming prolongation of the QTc duration with HCQ in COVID-19 treatment are shown to be flawed. Indeed, available data suggests that this finding is due to the underlying illness itself.
https://www.newsmedical.net/news/20...early-20025-in-ventilated-COVID-patients.aspx
Hydroxychloroquine could still prevent COVID-19 and save tens of thousands of lives around the world, say leading scientific researchers. While it doesn’t work in treatment of hospitalised patients, it could still prevent infections. However, fraudulent data, unjustified extrapolation and exaggerated safety concerns together with intense politicisation and negative publicity may stop COPCOV, the only large, global clinical trial testing hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 prevention, from ever finding out.
https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/news/hy...-covid-19-prevention/search?category=research
