As per a recent open-label non-randomized clinical trial conducted in France, the combination therapy with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin reduced the viral load in COVID-19 patients.

As chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were reported to be effective in COVID-19 patients by China, this study was conducted to assess the role of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in coronavirus patients. Patients confirmed with COVID-19 were included in this single-arm study conducted between early March to March 16th. The study population was administered with 600 mg of hydroxychloroquine daily, 500 mg azithromycin on day 1 and 250 mg per day for the next 4 days was additionally given to six patients. The study endpoint was the status of coronavirus in the patients on Day 6 after inclusion in the study.

In this study, URTI (upper respiratory tract infection) symptoms and LRTI (lower respiratory tract infection) symptoms were present in 22 and 8 patients respectively and 6 patients were asymptomatic. A significant reduction in the viral load was observed in patients as compared to the controls. Addition of azithromycin acted synergistically to hydroxychloroquine for virus elimination.

Even with the small sample size, this study could be considered as a basis for larger COVID-19 treatment clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.