Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Small Study Shows Malaria Drug Touted By Trump Helps, But Scientists Warn More Research Is Needed
The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helped to speed the recovery of a small number of patients who were mildly ill from the coronavirus, doctors in China reported this week. Cough, fever and pneumonia went away faster, and the disease seemed less likely to turn severe in people who received hydroxychloroquine than in a comparison group not given the drug. The authors of the report said that the medication was promising, but that more research was needed to clarify how it might work in treating coronavirus disease and to determine the best way to use it. (Grady, 4/1)
Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois' health system are testing Ebola drug remdesivir in a clinical trial of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Cook County Health is also treating hospitalized patients with remdesivir in two clinical trials sponsored by the drug manufacturer, Gilead Sciences. Cook County is treating patients with moderate COVID-19 in one study and patients with severe COVID-19 in another. (Asplund, 4/1)
In other news about treatments —
New York City resident Sabri Ben-Achour, 39, began to feel ill on March 12 and experienced roughly 36 hours of intense symptoms: fever, aches, fatigue, cough and headache. But by March 14, Ben-Achour felt back to normal, except for one thing: Both his sense of smell and taste were gone. "I couldn't smell anything," he said. "I could literally not smell s---." He ordered from an Indian restaurant: "I asked them to make it extra salty and extra spicy, and it tasted like water." (Fitzsimons, 4/1)
