Vice President Mike Pence told a news briefing Sunday that hydroxychloroquine will be used in a 3,000-person study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit to test the effectiveness of the anti-malarial drug in treating novel coronavirus patients.
Why it matters: President Trump has touted the drug as a potential game-changer, but there's no conclusive proof that it works in COVID-19 cases, per National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.
- The trial will be "the first major, definitive study in healthcare workers and first responders of hydroxychloroquine as a preventative medication," noted study organizer William O'Neill, an interventional cardiologist and researcher with Henry Ford Health System, in a statement.
Zoom in: The study will "look at whether the drug prevents front-line workers from contracting the virus," according to the statement.
- Once health care workers and first responders enrolled in the trial provide a blood sample, they'll "receive vials with unidentified, specific pills to take over the next eight weeks," per Henry Ford Health System.
- These will consist of a once-a-week dose of hydroxychloroquine, a once-a-day dose or a placebo. Participants won't know which group they're in.
Of note: "The study medication was specially procured for this study [from the Food and Drug Administration] and will not impact the supply of medication for people who already take the medication for other conditions," Henry Ford Health System said.
Our thought bubble, per Axios' Sam Baker: Hydroxychloroquine has shown some promise against the coronavirus in a small French study, but it's not federally approved to treat COVID-19, as no official studies had been conducted to determine whether it's both safe and effective for those sick patients.
Go deeper: Inside the epic White House fight over hydroxychloroquine
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more details on the study.
