Why Hoarding Of Hydroxychloroquine Needs To Stop

(By Martha Bebinger, WBUR for Kaiser Health News)

A family of old antimalarial drugs — including one that some patients rely on to treat their lupus or rheumatoid arthritis — is becoming harder to get in the United States, pharmacists say, partly because of remarks President Donald Trump has made, highlighting the drugs as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

“I feel good about it. That’s all it is, just a feeling,” Trump said during a White House briefing Thursday about hydroxychloroquine. “You’re going to see soon enough.” He again trumpeted his interest in the approach at a press conference Monday.

But health officials have been quick to warn that enthusiasm for such a treatment is premature. Big clinical studies of the drug against COVID-19 are only just beginning, the head of the Food and Drug Administration has said; another study was set to begin in New York on Tuesday. And there are some good reasons to think cell studies that look promising in the lab won’t pan out in real patients, other infectious-disease experts say. Continue reading article here…

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

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