Hydroxychloroquine Rated 'Most Effective Therapy' By Doctors For Coronavirus: Global Survey

The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine has been deemed the most highly rated treatment for the novel coronavirus in an international poll of more than 6,000 doctors.

The survey, released Thursday and conducted by Sermo, a global health care polling company, asked 6,227 physicians in 30 countries to find out what works against SARS-CoV-2. The poll found that 37% of those treating patients suffering frm the coronavirusa that causes COVID-19 patients rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy.”

The physicians picked hydroxychloroquine from a list of 15 choices.

On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave chloroquine and its derivative, hydroxychloroquine, emergency-use authorization, although many physicians were already using the drug.

Azithromycin, known by the brand name Zithromax or Z-Pak, camed in as the second-most effective therapy at 32%, followed by “nothing.”

“Outside the U.S., hydroxychloroquine was equally used for diagnosed patients with mild to severe symptoms whereas in the U.S. it was most commonly used for high risk diagnosed patients,” the survey found.

ANNOUNCEMENT: To create a centralized & dynamic knowledge base we published results of our COVID-19 study, which over 6.2K physicians in 30 countries participated in: https://t.co/ppewwdo8wl pic.twitter.com/Fg5B6FMUCQ

— Sermo (@Sermo) April 2, 2020

Sermo released a statement on the poll with other findings, including:

The three most commonly prescribed treatments amongst COVID-19 treaters are 56% analgesics, 41% Azithromycin, and 33% Hydroxychloroquine
Hydroxychloroquine usage amongst COVID-19 treaters is 72% in Spain, 49% in Italy, 41% in Brazil, 39% in Mexico, 28% in France, 23% in the U.S., 17% in Germany, 16% in Canada, 13% in the UK and 7% in Japan
Hydroxychloroquine was overall chosen as the most effective therapy amongst COVID-19 treaters from a list of 15 options (37% of COVID-19 treaters)
75% in Spain, 53% Italy, 44% in China, 43% in Brazil, 29% in France, 23% in the U.S. and 13% in the U.K.

The two most common treatment regimens for Hydroxychloroquine were:

(38%) 400mg twice daily on day one; 400 mg daily for five days
(26%) 400mg twice daily on day one; 200mg twice daily for four days
Outside the U.S., Hydroxychloroquine was equally used for diagnosed patients with mild to severe symptoms whereas in the U.S. it was most commonly used for high risk diagnosed patients
Globally, 19% of physicians prescribed or have seen Hydroxychloroquine prophylactically used for high risk patients, and 8% for low risk patients