An Alberta-wide trial investigating the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19 has been cleared to resume.
However, it appears the province’s success in flattening the curve will keep the Alberta HOPE trial on pause for now. The study was announced in mid-April and planned to recruit 1,600 Albertans to determine whether a prescribed five-day treatment of hydroxychloroquine can prevent hospitalization for those at highest risk of developing a severe illness.
Hydroxychloroquine is a drug that’s normally used to treat malaria. “The goal of taking hydroxychloroquine or the placebo in this trial was to prevent worsening, to prevent people getting so bad they need to come to hospital with viral pneumonia,”