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Clinical trial enrollment plummets as volunteers are scared off coronavirus drugs promoted by Trump
May 9, 2020
One of the hottest debates in the coronavirus pandemic is whether the malaria drugs promoted as possible treatments by President Donald Trump really work. But Americans don’t seem overly eager to help answer the question.
Enrollment in several clinical trials of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — including two by the University of Washington — has been anemic so far. Fewer than 260 volunteers, out of a target of 2,000, have signed up for a $9.5 million UW study being conducted in Seattle and six other sites across the country. Another multi-site project coordinated by the UW has only about 30 patients enrolled.
[..]
Barnabas and other researchers say the potential risks of the drugs have been exaggerated in the heated political controversy ignited when Trump first began promoting them. Critics of the president blasted him for touting unproven medications, while his supporters have accused scientists of cover-ups and conspiracies.
[..]
For people with no underlying heart or kidney problems, there is no evidence the drug — at the doses used in the clinical trials — poses serious risks of cardiac problems, said Dr. William O’Neill, who is overseeing a trial at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
“We have decades of experience with this drug,” he said. “It’s one of the few drugs approved for use during pregnancy and for lactating women.”
Enrollment has also slowed in O’Neill’s study, which is focused on testing hydroxychloroquine’s ability to protect people who work in high-risk settings, like hospitals, nursing homes and prisons, from infection. The project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is interested in inexpensive drugs that might be used to fight COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in developing countries.
O’Neill’s team has given hydroxychloroquine to about 1,700 people so far, with no serious side effects, he said.
May 9, 2020
One of the hottest debates in the coronavirus pandemic is whether the malaria drugs promoted as possible treatments by President Donald Trump really work. But Americans don’t seem overly eager to help answer the question.
Enrollment in several clinical trials of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — including two by the University of Washington — has been anemic so far. Fewer than 260 volunteers, out of a target of 2,000, have signed up for a $9.5 million UW study being conducted in Seattle and six other sites across the country. Another multi-site project coordinated by the UW has only about 30 patients enrolled.
[..]
Barnabas and other researchers say the potential risks of the drugs have been exaggerated in the heated political controversy ignited when Trump first began promoting them. Critics of the president blasted him for touting unproven medications, while his supporters have accused scientists of cover-ups and conspiracies.
[..]
For people with no underlying heart or kidney problems, there is no evidence the drug — at the doses used in the clinical trials — poses serious risks of cardiac problems, said Dr. William O’Neill, who is overseeing a trial at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
“We have decades of experience with this drug,” he said. “It’s one of the few drugs approved for use during pregnancy and for lactating women.”
Enrollment has also slowed in O’Neill’s study, which is focused on testing hydroxychloroquine’s ability to protect people who work in high-risk settings, like hospitals, nursing homes and prisons, from infection. The project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is interested in inexpensive drugs that might be used to fight COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in developing countries.
O’Neill’s team has given hydroxychloroquine to about 1,700 people so far, with no serious side effects, he said.
