Utah paid $800k for hydroxychloroquine

[struggle4progress]

BY JIM SPIEWAK
FRIDAY, APRIL 24TH 2020

... On March 31, 2020, the state paid $800,000 for 20,000 units of hydroxychloroquine, which the state has not taken delivery of yet ...

... the Utah Department of Health is negotiating for 200,000 additional units of the same drug from the same company, Meds in Motion ...

The governor's office denied an interview request ...

https://kjzz.com/news/in-rapid-fire-decision-utah-paid-800k-for-hydroxychloroquine-3-weeks-ago

[SheltieLover]

1. WOW

They didn't get the memo? 😳😱

[rockfordfile]

6. No kidding.

[JI7]

2. hope much does trump get ?

[Midnight Writer]

3. What have they got to lose?

I sure hope an intrepid reporter is seeing exactly who those 20,000 doses were intended for.

I wonder if there is a priority list somewhere?

20,000 doses won't cover many people.

[struggle4progress]

4. Doesn't work for very sick coronavirus patients

Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent
Updated 10:34 PM ET, Thu April 23, 2020

... The study, sponsored by the New York state Department of Health, looked at about 600 patients at 22 hospitals in the greater New York City area.

Those who took hydroxychloroquine, with or without the antibiotic azithromycin, were no more likely to survive their infections than those who did not, according to David Holtgrave, dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health, who conducted the study. The results have not yet been peer-reviewed or published.

"We don't see a statistically significant difference between patients who took the drugs and those who did not," he said ...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/health/hydroxychloroquine-new-york-coronavirus-study/index.html

[struggle4progress]

5. Drug maker accuses China of gouging

Stephanie Findlay in New Delhi and Sun Yu in Beijing
3 HOURS AGO

One of the world’s biggest makers of hydroxychloroquine has accused Chinese factories of price gouging it on important ingredients ...

India is the largest producer of hydroxychloroquine ...The country relies on raw materials from China to produce the finished drug.

Governments including those in the US and Brazil have lined up to purchase hydroxychloroquine from Indian companies ... Surging demand has pushed up prices across the supply chain ...

https://www.ft.com/content/d7b80487-e15c-49fc-bfe6-b3ec09f55d48

 

[clutterbox1830]

7. It depresses me how much the federal government bought now.

[struggle4progress]

8. Union to Smithfield employees: Don't participate in hydroxychloroquine trial

Jonathan Ellis, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Published 4:54 p.m. CT April 23, 2020
Updated 5:02 p.m. CT April 23, 2020

The president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said Thursday that he is urging Sioux Falls Smithfield workers who contracted COVID-19 not to participate in a statewide study into the effectiveness of a malaria drug to treat the disease.

Gov. Kristi Noem has supported a statewide clinical trial of the drug hydroxychloroquine to determine if it might have benefits for COVID-19 patients, but UFCW President Marc Perrone said he wants no Smithfield workers to participate.

“We are very, very concerned about it, and strongly recommend that our members do not take part in that study,” he said.

Perrone said he was concerned by reports that patients treated with the drug had a higher death rate than those who received just standard care ...

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/04/23/union-smithfield-employees-dont-participate-hydroxychloroquine-trial/3015807001/

[struggle4progress]

9. Studies roll in: little evidence hydroxychloroquine works

CATHLEEN O'GRADY - 4/23/2020, 2:03 PM

... early hype—including repeated promotion from President Trump—led to a runaway train of enthusiasm for the drugs. The Food and Drug Administration authorized treatment of COVID-19 patients with chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine despite the lack of good evidence for their efficacy, sparking backlash from former FDA leaders ...

A team of researchers used VHA data to track the outcomes of confirmed COVID-19 patients at veterans hospitals who were treated with just hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine plus an antibiotic, or neither of the drugs. They found that 27.8 percent of the 97 patients treated with just hydroxychloroquine died, compared to 11.4 percent of the 158 patients who weren’t treated with hydroxychloroquine at all, and 22.1 percent of the 113 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic. Rates of ventilation were similar ...

... Recent NIH guidance for clinicians treating COVID-19 patients says that there currently isn’t enough evidence to recommend for or against treating with hydroxychloroquine ...

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/more-reason-for-caution-with-malaria-drugs-as-covid-19-treatment/

[struggle4progress]

10. Misinformation endangering lives

ANITA DESIKAN, RESEARCH ANALYST
APRIL 23, 2020, 1:42 PM EDT

The Trump administration’s claim that two anti-malarial drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, should be regarded as treatment options for COVID-19 may be one of its most dangerous forms of misinformation yet. For weeks, the Trump administration has claimed that these drugs can act like a panacea for the disease and, while the administration has recently gone quiet on this messaging, the damage has already been done ...

It is very dangerous to say that a drug can treat COVID-19 without a series of well-established, robust clinical trials. Already, we’ve seen this misinformation by the administration leading to hydroxychloroquine poisonings and deaths in Nigeria and the US; a mass public scramble for the drugs such that lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients, who depend on hydroxychloroquine for pain management, are unable to obtain it; and some pharmaceutical companies have hiked the price up by 350 percent for a component used to make the hydroxychloroquine drug ...

It is still an open question as to whether hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine has some potential benefits for treating COVID-19. For instance, it is possible that the drugs may be promising in certain drug combinations but not others; the drugs may prove to be beneficial for some patients at certain stages of a disease but not others; or the drugs could provide benefits for people with certain demographic or underlying health conditions but not others.

There are simply too many unknowns to tell. This is why we conduct clinical trials with robust methodology. The history of science and medicine are littered with examples of people excited about certain treatment options that later proved to be detrimental under randomized clinical trials. There is a bitter lesson here: touting miracle cures without proper scientific evidence can led to heartbreaking situations for patients ...

https://blog.ucsusa.org/anita-desikan/trump-administrations-hydroxychloroquine-misinformation-is-endangering-peoples-lives

[struggle4progress]

11. Lessons from reckless recommendation

By Editorial Board
April 23, 2020 at 12:20 p.m. EDT

THE FRENZY over the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine is probably not the last time someone will dangle the prospect of a miracle cure for covid-19. More wild claims and false starts can be expected. That is why it is important to grasp the lessons of President Trump’s reckless recommendation of a drug without evidence of efficacy. Especially at a time of grave distress, the lesson is: Demand evidence, seek proof and don’t listen to quacks anywhere ...

... Rick Bright, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, said Wednesday he was forced out of his job because he balked at broad use of the drug ...

Separately, a panel made up of prominent U.S. government agencies and professional medical associations recommended against the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin — Mr. Trump’s “game changer” — because of “the potential for toxicities” ...

The United States has built a process of drug testing and approvals considered the gold standard around the world, involving three phases of clinical trials to test safety, dosage, efficacy and possible side effects of a new drug or vaccine. The fear inspired by the coronavirus must not undermine this rigorous procedure. Ultimately, a new drug or vaccine needs public confidence. Shaking that trust with premature and unsubstantiated claims will lead only to more misery and suffering.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-lessons-from-trumps-reckless-recommendation-of-hydroxychloroquine/2020/04/23/4626c4ce-84bc-11ea-ae26-989cfce1c7c7_story.html

[struggle4progress]

12. Who will be held accountable for nonsensical ideas ?

Opinion by Frida Ghitis
Updated 7:01 PM ET, Thu April 23, 2020

... "What do you have to lose?" Trump asked Americans during an April 4 news briefing, as he urged anxious viewers to take the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine -- which we now know could lead to more deaths -- for Covid-19.

The answer, of course, is their lives. What do the people of Georgia have to lose, he may ask again, as he initially cheered on Gov. Brian Kemp, who is disregarding Trump's own guidelines and starting to reopen the state at the height of a pandemic ...

For weeks, Trump and Fox News hosts and guests incessantly repeated unproven claims about hydroxychloroquine. The country's top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, tried valiantly to lower expectations. But Trump persisted. "I really think they should take it," he advised, blocking Fauci from commenting. We all wished there were a quick, easy cure, but we also wanted a responsible leader.

"It's just a feeling," he explained as he promoted the drug from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters. I'm a "smart guy." Trump said he had ordered 28 million doses; he wrongly claimed the US Food and Drug Administration approving hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 treatment. People rushed to buy it, creating shortages for those who needed it to treat diseases like lupus ...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/opinions/trump-nonsensical-ideas-rick-bright-covid-ghitis/index.html