Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
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Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. · Oct 2020
Finding the dose for hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis for COVID-19; the desperate search for effectiveness.
Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial drug being tested as a potential treatment for the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Although the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 remains uncertain, it may serve as a potential prophylactic agent especially in those at high risk, such as healthcare workers, household contacts of infected patients, and the immunocompromised. ⋯ In an exposure driven, post-exposure prophylaxis setting, 800 mg loading dose followed in 6 hours by 600 mg, then 600 mg daily for 4 more days achieved daily troughs above EC50 in > 50% subjects. These doses are higher than recommended for malaria chemoprophylaxis, and clinical trials are needed to establish safety and efficacy.
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Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. · Oct 2020
ReviewChallenges in Drug Development Posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Opportunity for Clinical Pharmacology.
The unprecedented challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlight the urgency for applying clinical pharmacology and model-informed drug development in (i) dosage optimization for COVID-19 therapies, (ii) approaching therapeutic dilemmas in clinical trial settings, and (iii) maximizing value of information from impacted non-COVID-19 trials. More than ever, we have a responsibility for adaptive evidence synthesis with a Totality of Evidence mindset in this race against time across biomedical research, clinical practice, drug development, and regulation.