A Chinese herbal formula used to treat coronavirus patients in China is undergoing clinical trials in the US for possible approval for people with mild-to-moderate symptoms of the viral disease.
Qingfei Paidu, most commonly called QFPD, is a 21-herb formula whose name literally means “lung cleansing and detoxification.”
The US Food and Drug Administration approved a “double-blind randomized control” trial of the treatment in June. Such a trial, considered the gold standard of epidemiologic studies, is one where neither the participant nor the researcher knows whether the patient is receiving an experimental treatment or a placebo.