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International Orthopaedics

Erschienen in:

24.05.2020 | COVID-19 | Invited Papers Zur Zeit gratis

Trials and tribulations: so many potential treatments, so few answers

verfasst von: Aaron Gazendam, Nicholas Nucci, Seper Ekhtiari, Chetan Gohal, Meng Zhu, Abbey Payne, Mohit Bhandari

Erschienen in: International Orthopaedics | Ausgabe 8/2020

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this review is to quantify the landscape of current clinical trials ongoing for therapies in the treatment of COVID-19. A secondary purpose is to examine the relationship between public and scientific interests in potential therapies for COVID-19.

Methods

A systematic search of clinicaltrials.gov was undertaken on April 22, 2020, to identify all currently registered clinical trials investigating potential therapies for patients with COVID-19. Public interest in the various therapies was quantified utilizing Google Trends. Public interest in hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine was plotted against the cumulative number of active clinical trials evaluating antimalarials as potential COVID-19 therapies over time.

Results

There were 341 interventional studies and 208 different therapies actively registered on clinicaltrials.gov whose primary aim is the treatment of COVID-19. The median sample size was 120 patients (range 4–6000) with 154 (45%) trials reporting a planned sample size of 100 patients or less. There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.76, p = 0.01) between the number of registered clinical trials and the public interest in the top ten proposed therapies. Following the spike in public interest, the average number of new trials increased tenfold with respect to antimalarial therapies.

Conclusions

The relatively small sample sizes and the number of independent trials investigating similar therapies are concerning. Resources may not be being allocated based on scientific merit and may be driven by public consciousness and speculation. Moving forward, a concerted effort focused on implementing large, well-coordinated and carefully designed multi-armed clinical trials will help to ensure that the most promising therapeutic options are rigorously studied and clinically meaningful results produced.

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Titel: Trials and tribulations: so many potential treatments, so few answers
verfasst von: Aaron Gazendam
Nicholas Nucci
Seper Ekhtiari
Chetan Gohal
Meng Zhu
Abbey Payne
Mohit Bhandari
Publikationsdatum: 24.05.2020
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Schlagwort: COVID-19
Erschienen in: International Orthopaedics / Ausgabe 8/2020
Print ISSN: 0341-2695
Elektronische ISSN: 1432-5195
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-020-04625-7

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Trials and tribulations: so many potential treatments, so few answers