Early COVID-19 Therapy with Azithromycin Plus Nitazoxanide, Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine in Outpatient Settings Significantly Reduced Symptoms Compared to Known Outcomes in Untreated Patients

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.31.20223883v1.full.pdf

The objective of the present study  (NCT04446429) was to elucidate whether the conduction of a full placebo-control RCT was still ethically viable, through a comparative analysis with two control-groups. Compared to CG1 and CG2, AG showed a reduction of 31.5 to 36.5% in viral shedding (p < 0.0001), 70 to 85% and 70 to 73% in duration of COVID-19 clinical symptoms when including and not including anosmia and ageusia, respectively ((p < 0.0001 for both), and 100% in respiratory complications through the parameters of the Brescia COVID-19 Respiratory Scale (p < 0.0001). For every 1,000 confirmed cases for COVID-19, a minimum of 140 patients were prevented from hospitalization (p < 0.0001), 50 from mechanical ventilation, and five deaths, when comparing to age-, sex- and comorbidity-matched non-treated patients with similar initial disease severity at the moment of diagnosis. Compared to CG1 and CG2, AG showed a reduction of 31.5 to 36.5% in viral shedding (p < 0.0001), 70 to 85% and 70 to 73% in duration of COVID-19 clinical symptoms when including and not including anosmia and ageusia, respectively ((p < 0.0001 for both), and 100% in respiratory complications through the parameters of the Brescia COVID-19 Respiratory Scale (p < 0.0001). For every 1,000 confirmed cases for COVID-19, a minimum of 140 patients were prevented from hospitalization (p < 0.0001), 50 from mechanical ventilation, and five deaths, when comparing to age-, sex- and comorbidity-matched non-treated patients with similar initial disease severity at the moment of diagnosis.