Ellen Gabler,
The New York Times Company
March 25, 2020 | 9:41 AM
Doctors are hoarding medications touted as possible coronavirus treatments by writing prescriptions for themselves and family members, according to pharmacy boards in states across the country.
The stockpiling has become so worrisome in Idaho, Kentucky, Ohio, Nevada, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Texas that the boards in those states have issued emergency restrictions or guidelines on how the drugs can be dispensed at pharmacies. More states are expected to follow suit.
“This is a real issue, and it is not some product of a few isolated bad apples,” said Jay Campbell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy.
The medications being prescribed differ slightly from state to state but include those touted by President Donald Trump at televised briefings as potential breakthrough treatments for the virus, which has killed more than 675 people in the United States and sickened more than 52,000.
None of the drugs has been found to be effective in treating coronavirus or been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for such uses. Some of them — including chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and remdesivir — are commonly used to treat malaria, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV and other conditions.
Pharmacists have been swapping stories on social media about the spike in prescriptions written by doctors for themselves or their families.
“I have multiple prescribers calling in prescriptions for Plaquenil for themselves and their family members as a precaution. Is this ethical?” one person wrote Sunday in a Facebook group for pharmacists, referring to a brand name of hydroxychloroquine. Others weighed in — some noting similar experiences — and expressed their hesitancy to dispense such prescriptions.
Campbell, of the North Carolina board, said medical boards and associations had to get involved as well to curb the behavior of prescribers.
The first restrictions were imposed last week in Idaho. The board there imposed a temporary rule that bars pharmacies from dispensing two drugs — chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine — unless the prescription includes a written diagnosis of a condition that the drugs have been proven to treat.
Texas adopted a similar rule Friday, including another malaria drug — mefloquine — as well as azithromycin, commonly known by its brand name, Zithromax Z-Pak. The drug, which is used to treat bacterial infections, has been mentioned by Trump as another potential treatment for coronavirus when taken in conjunction with the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine. The effectiveness of the treatment remains unproven.
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