>>8773223 (pb)
Anons, this study is about the ability of HCQ to PREVENT china virus symptoms and disease in people who have been exposed to it. If someone has symptoms, then it's too late to prevent them. That's why the exclusion criteria include symptoms.
Ascorbic acid (Vit C) is given in the same schedule and dosing reduction as the HCQ. Now, I'm not a fan of using Vit C instead of a true placebo here, but it is not a megadose. 500 mg a day for 3 days reduced to 250 mg a day for 11 days. That's not a whole lot considering the max dose anyone should really get is 2000 mg a day.
The study is designed to show whether or not HCQ can prevent the virus from taking hold and causing disease better than Vit C. That's not a bad thing to learn.
It might be interesting to do a similar study and include zinc in both arms. Antibiotics are not often used preventively, so it would not be part of a prophylaxis regimen anyway.
Whatever the outcome, we learn something. If HCQ is better than Vit C, that's great. If they're the same, then we know Vit C (in those doses) works as well as HCQ alone, and that's good to know too - because Vit C is widely available, cheap, and people can get it without an Rx.
And if HCQ is the same or worse than Vit C, then we know that maybe HCQ needs synergy with something else, like zinc, and we can move forward there by studying that.
Now, I don't like Gates anymore than any other anon. And his involvement is a red flag.
And this study has its imperfections. But as a prevention study (rather than a treatment study), the basic study design seems sound.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT04328961?view=record
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/vitamin-c/faq-20058030