https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3749-6754
Dear editor
We would like to submit a response to the Letter to the Editor, by: Sri Wahyuni Gayatri; Andi St Fahirah Arsal; Wisdawan on the Article: Said et al, Profiles of Independent Comorbidity Groups in Senior COVID-19 Patients Reveal Low Fatality Associated with Standard Care and Low-Dose Hydroxychloroquine over Antivirals.
We thank the authors of Letter to the Editor for their positive comments and interests in the article and in their comments helping to promote research in this vital area. All safety protocols were carefully applied for the best possible outcome. We agree with the authors of the Letter on the availability of published data about favipiravir superior safety regarding toxicity in comorbid COVID-19 patients suffering from heart disease. However, initial global COVID-19 treatment protocols were constantly under scrutiny for best options; for instance, with regard to HQC. In this circumstance and before we discontinued, HQC and other antivirals treatments were administered independently on independent comorbidity groups, each drug was monitored on groups that were safe for it, and HQC was first administered at a safe low level then gradually titrated to a slightly higher but safer concentrations with positive outcome before discontinued based on global recommendations. The authors of the Letter briefly touched on the mechanisms of HQC, while the pH-based mechanism has been widely known, there has been enormous efforts at different stages on validating specific molecular mechanisms.
In conclusion, we again thank the authors of the Letter to the Editor for their interest, comments, and additional recommendations in this area.
Disclosure
The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this communication.