Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation<\/p>\n
(By Martha Bebinger, WBUR for Kaiser Health News)<\/p>\n
A family of old antimalarial drugs \u2014 including one that some patients rely on to treat their lupus or rheumatoid arthritis \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good about it. That\u2019s all it is, just a feeling,\u201d Trump said during a White House briefing Thursday about\u00a0hydroxychloroquine. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see soon enough.\u201d He again trumpeted his interest in the approach at a press conference Monday.<\/p>\n
But health officials have been quick to warn that\u00a0enthusiasm 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\u2019t pan out in real patients, other infectious-disease experts say. Continue reading article here…<\/a><\/p>\n Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation<\/p>\n
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