A Study of Hydroxycholoroquine Compared to Placebo as Treatment for People With COVID-19

May 13, 2025 updated by: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Single-center, Phase II, Randomized Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study of Hydroxychloroquine Compared to Placebo as Treatment for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection

This study is being done to see if hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for COVID-19.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Withdrawn

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10021
        • Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18 years and older
  • Subjects must have a documented positive test for the SARS-CoV-2 infection within 7 days of randomization
  • Subject must be hospitalized within 72 hours of randomization
  • Subjects must be receiving standard of care for SARS-CoV-2
  • Subject/Legally Authorized Representative (LAR) must have the ability to understand and give informed consent
  • Subject must be able to take and absorb hydroxychloroquine at the discretion of the investigator

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Prior receipt of hydroxychloroquine for treatment or prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 or patient is taking hydroxychloroquine for other approved indications (e.g., lupus, rheumatoid arthritis)
  • No documented SARS-CoV-2 infection
  • Mechanical ventilation
  • Known hypersensitivity to hydroxychloroquine or 4-aminoquinoline derivatives Preexisting retinopathy documented in medical history
  • Pregnancy or Breastfeeding
  • Concurrent use of any other quinine derivative (chloroquine, mefloquine) or rifamycins (rifampin, rifabutin)
  • Antiarrhythmic medications (amiodarone, sotalol, dofetilide, procainamide, quinidine, flecainide)
  • History of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency
  • Pre-treatment corrected QT interval (QTc) >500 milliseconds
  • Pressor requirement to maintain blood pressure
  • Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and/or asparate aminotransferase (AST) level > 5X upper limit of normal
  • Creatinine clearance <30 mL/min or requirement of dialysis or continuous venovenous hemofiltration
  • Concomitant participation in a therapeutic trial for SARS-CoV-2 or receiving any experimental treatment for SARS-CoV-2 within 7 days of randomization
  • Any condition that in the opinion of the principal investigator would prevent participation in the trial or would interfere with the trial endpoints

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Arm A - hydroxycholoroquine
Participants will receive hydroxycholoroquine (200-mg tablets) 2 tablets orally q12h for 2 doses on day 1 (load), followed by 1 tablet orally q12h for days 2-5.
Drug: Hydroxychloroquine
Participants will receive hydroxycholoroquine (200-mg tablets) 2 tablets orally q12h for 2 doses on day 1 (load), followed by 1 tablet orally q12h for days 2-5.
Placebo Comparator: Arm B - placebo
Participants will receive placebo
Other: Placebo
Participants will receive masked placebo given as 2 tablets orally q12h for 2 doses on day 1, followed by 1 tablet orally q12h for days 2-5.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical improvement on the Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement (OSCI)
Time Frame: 14 days
Clinical improvement is defined as a composite endpoint of a two-point clinical improvement on the Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement (OSCI). The OSCI is an ordinal scale of 9 severity levels (from 0 to 8) for COVID-19
14 days
Number of participants requiring mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure
Time Frame: 14 days
Clinical improvement is defined as no mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure attributed to SARS-CoV-2 within 14 days of randomization.
14 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Genovefa Papanicolaou, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 5, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
September 25, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
September 25, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 5, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 6, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 7, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 16, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 13, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 20-187

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center supports the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and the ethical obligation of responsible sharing of data from clinical trials. The protocol summary, a statistical summary, and informed consent form will be made available on clinicaltrials.gov when required as a condition of Federal awards, other agreements supporting the research and/or as otherwise required. Requests for deidentified individual participant data can be made beginning 12 months after publication and for up to 36 months post publication. Deidentified individual participant data reported in the manuscript will be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement and may only be used for approved proposals. Requests may be made to: crdatashare@mskcc.org.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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