There's been news about both drugs recently, good, bad and mediocre. Before comparing what we know, it's helpful to look at some data taken directly from NYC health department, current epicenter of the pandemic.
25.8% of confirmed coronavirus cases have been hospitalized in NYC, 29.7% of those people died, and over 80% of those put on ventilators died. Overall death rate compared to confirmed cases is about 7%, but it's probably much less than that if you take into account antibody studies showing that many people get the disease and recover without ever being diagnosed. What we can conclude from this data is that your chances of dying go way up if you are hospitalized, and way way up if you are put on a ventilator.
COVID-19: Data - NYC Health
So let's compare remdesivir to hydroxychloroquine treatment.
Remdesivir is an intravenous drug, which means it is given only in hospitals at this point
Remdesivir is likely to be very expensive, costing over $1000 per day. Probably very high copays like other designer drugs.
The main supplier for the chemicals used in Remdesivir is in China.
Hydroxychloroquine is a pill that can be taken at home, before your symptoms warrant hospitalization
Hydroxychloroquine costs a dollar or two per day.
Hydroxychloroquine is made all over the world by many companies, there's no patent, and nobody stands to make billions if they use it.
A couple of clinical trials for remdesivir are being released, one published at The Lancet which said:
Our trial found that intravenous remdesivir did not significantly improve the time to clinical improvement, mortality, or time to clearance of virus in patients with serious COVID-19 compared with placebo.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...022-9/fulltext
Another trial done by on remdesivir has not yet been published, but DR Fauci leaked some details from it, calling it promising.
Fauci said the median recovery time for patients treated with remdesivir was 11 days, compared with the 15 days for patients in the placebo group. Death rate was 8% in remdesivir group vs 11% in placebo group, not significant.
That's better than nothing but certainly not spectacular. When they release the paper we'll know more.
As far as studies on Hydroxychloroquine, we don't have double blind studies yet but will soon. There are over 140 studies of HCQ plus various drugs listed at National Library of Medicine so hopefully we will have proof one way or the other shortly. There seems to be a consensus among Doctors using HCQ cocktails that it works best soon after symptoms develop, before you go to the hospital.
Here is a link to a letter by The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons about the good results of HCQ drug cocktails before disease progresses to hospitalization.
"In addition, Michael J. A. Robb, M.D., of Phoenix is compiling all reports as they come in. As of this date, the total number of reported patients treated with HCQ, with or without azithromycin and zinc, is 2,333. Of these, 2,137 or 91.6 percent improved clinically. There were 63 deaths, all but 11 in a single retrospective report from the Veterans Administration where the patients were severely ill."
AAPS Letter Asking Gov. Ducey to Rescind Executive Order concerning hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 - AAPS | Association of American Physicians and Surgeons