Comparative Effectiveness of Pre-Identified Homeopathic Medicines in Asymptomatic COVID-19 Individuals Receiving Standard Care-An Open-Label, Randomized, Controlled Exploratory Trial.

BACKGROUND

Asymptomatic COVID-19 subjects can transmit the infection for as many as 14 days and are regarded as a significant factor in the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This exploratory study aimed to determine any additional benefits of selected homeopathic medicines compared with placebo in asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals receiving standard care.

METHODS

This open-label, randomized, placebo-controlled, exploratory trial was undertaken at a COVID Care Centre (CCC) in Madhya Pradesh, India. Patients ( = 200, 18-65 years, both sexes) having a positive RT-PCR and asymptomatic during admission were enrolled. They were randomly assigned to one of four groups (each  = 50): 30C (), 1M (.), 30C and placebo (.). All the patients were given standard care. The primary outcome was the number of patients becoming RT-PCR negative for SARS-CoV-2 at days 5, 10 and 15.

RESULTS

In total, 200 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients were enrolled. One hundred and seventy-seven patients became RT-PCR negative by day 15; 88%, 80%, 98% and 88% from and respectively. A Chi-square test of association for the total patients who became RT-PCR negative for SARS-Cov-2 in each group showed a marginal statistical significance (Chi-square: 8.1,  = 0.04). A two-proportion -test comparing each pre-identified homeopathic medicine with placebo showed marginal statistical significance ( = 0.05) for only. Median time in days to RT-PCR negative (Kaplan Meier analysis) was 10 days in each of the groups.

CONCLUSION

There was some evidence that, compared with . or , was associated with an increased number of patients who became RT-PCR negative for COVID-19 by day 15. The possible effect exerted needs to be investigated in additional research.