Drugs can have multiple indications and HCQ (the abbreviation is not HCl btw) is no different. It can be used for treatment and malaria prevention (there are better options of course), RA, Lupus and in transplant patients.

mazzag said:

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And it's the President's fault. Sorry. Please delete if political.

https://www.propublica.org/article/lupus-patients-cant-get-crucial-medication-after-president-trump-pushes-unproven-coronavirus-treatment

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Actually there was a run on HCQ last Thursday by DOCTORS way before President Trump mentioned anything via tweeter. As for the source? Well it's myself and a few other medical professionals who had to deal with it.

" Trump's push to use hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 has triggered a run on the drug. " this is a flat out lie (the article quoted a tweet from 3-21-2020). Also, you can't "make a run" on prescription drugs like toilet paper. Doctors have to prescribe it for a valid medical indication and pharmacists have a co-equal right to approve or deny the prescription for any reason. Trust me, the medical doctors are keeping tabs on any new studies and are usually the first to see them before the media even reports it. And guess what, that run on HCQ was stopped dead in its tracts by Pharmacists. Only previously established patients on this medication can get it now for more than 14 days supply.

Date 3-20-2020
1 TITLE 22 EXAMINING BOARDS
2 PART 15 TEXAS STATE BOARD OF PHARMACY
3 CHAPTER 291 PHARMACIES
4 SUBCHAPTER A ALL CLASSES OF PHARMACIES
5 291.30. Medication Limitations.
6 No prescription or medication order for chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, mefloquine, or
7 azithromycin may be dispensed or distributed unless all the following apply:
8 (1) the prescription or medication order bears a written diagnosis from the prescriber consistent
9 with the evidence for its use;
10 (2) the prescription or medication order is limited to no more than a fourteen (14) day supply,
11 unless the patient was previously established on the medication prior to the effective date of this
12 rule; and
13 (3) no refills may be permitted unless a new prescription or medication order is furnished.

Yeah I hear ya. Had a friend of mine come at me with the same NPC line. I made sure to set him straight.

Badace52 said:

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I had a colleague offer to write me a script for hydroxychloroquine when they discovered I was exposed to a confirmed Covid-19 patient but I refused. I told them am not showing any symptoms, and I felt it was unneccessary and should be reserved for those who could potentially benefit more. Additionally, I have probably been exposed to far more than the one confirmed case of Covid and so have all the people who work in my ER with me.

I felt it was unethical, but there are a lot of docs out there who are really scared right now and they do have a right to be. Healthcare workers have been shown to get much sicker and die at a higher rate than their age cohorts. I would not do it, but I will say I had to think about it for a minute. No one is perfect, and scared people make bad decisions.

Additionally, the data regarding efficacy of Hydroxycholoroquine use is suspect at best right now. We may be getting riled up over a drug that turns out in the long run to have marginal or no benefit at all.

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Isn't that drug potentially deadly? My understanding is anything over like 2 mg can be harmful?