There are three experiments getting started now that will determine whether hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) works as a prophylactic.  A prophylactic functions almost like a vaccine, except that it has to be taken daily.

All three experiments are the type that researchers dream about.  They are called double-blind studies because neither the subjects nor the people working with the subjects will know which subjects are taking an HCQ pill and which are taking a placebo pill.  Both pills will look identical.

The subjects of all three experiments will be health care workers and/or first responders.  The experimenters will follow the subjects closely to determine which ones catch COVID-19.  All three experiments are being conducted by reputable top-notch institutions:

1. Henry Ford Health System of Detroit, Mich.  First results will be reported around July 1.
2. Duke University of Durham, N.C. and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute of Washington, D.C.  First results will be reported around July 1.
3. Institut Pasteur and the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne in France.  All results will be reported around November 30.

The fourth study is not as well designed and won't report any results until March 2021, but it anticipates how HCQ as a prophylactic could be used to stem an outbreak of COVID-19.  It will be conducted by the Gangnam Severance Hospital of South Korea.  Those who have been exposed to COVID-19 will get HCQ as a prophylactic while the control group will get no intervention until after they test positive for COVID-19.

It is quite possible that HCQ will not prove to be effective in these studies.  But if it works, almost all health care workers will start taking a daily dose of HCQ.  In addition, HCQ will be prescribed to everybody who might have been exposed whenever a new case of COVID-19 is discovered.  New outbreaks of COVID-19 would be contained without the need for school closings or any other economic disruption.

President Trump and Peter Navarro may need to exercise the National Defense Production Act once again and very soon.  American producers, including Mylan Labs, may have to build several more HCQ production lines to get ready.  If these studies find that HCQ works as a prophylactic, the worldwide demand for HCQ could be astronomical!