Randomized Clinical Trials and COVID-19
Howard Bauchner, Phil Fontanarosa
Abstract
Despite the millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths that have occurred in this devastating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, no peer-reviewed studies of specific therapies proven to be effective in reducing mortality have been published and a vaccine is many months to years away. To date, more than 1000 studies addressing various aspects of COVID-19 are registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, including more than 600 interventional studies and randomized clinical trials (RCTs). 1 During the next few weeks and months, the results of numerous RCTs involving therapies for COVID-19 will be reported. Indeed, preliminary results from some studies have already been reported in social media and the popular press. How will clinicians, the public, and politicians understand the results of these much-anticipated and critically needed clinical trials?