Australia's health authority warns against hydroxychloroquine

[struggle4progress]

BY LYDIA SMITH ON 4/9/20 AT 6:12 AM EDT

... "Due to safety concerns, and the unknown effects of prescribing these medications for off-label usage, such as for COVID-19 infection, there are no current recommendations to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 illness," the AHPPC said in a statement.

"Appropriate dosage of medications for use in COVID-19 are not yet determined, and there is concern that if used inappropriately, off-label use of medications may cause toxicity and lead to adverse patient outcomes."


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The AHPPC notes that there is currently very limited evidence to support the use of medications for the treatment of COVID-19.

"The health and safety of all Australians is of paramount importance, and at this time, the AHPPC considers the evidence supporting off-label usage of medications for COVID-19 is not sufficient," the organization said. "We will continue to monitor the outcomes of clinical trials, and will update our recommendations as more information becomes available" ...

https://www.newsweek.com/australias-health-authority-warns-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-treat-covid-19-1497005

[struggle4progress]

1. We don't know yet if hydroxychloroquine can treat COVID-19

ANDRÉ PICARD
PUBLISHED 4 HOURS AGO

... The evidence of benefit in patients is mostly anecdotal, based on highly publicized but scientifically weak studies. Controversial microbiologist Didier Raoult has made wild claims about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine but his study, published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, is little more than anecdotal.

Similarly, Vladimir Zelenko, a small-town doctor in New York State, has gained internet fame promoting a cocktail of three drugs – hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotic azithromycin and zinc sulphate. There is no real evidence for claims that he has cured hundreds of cases of COVID-19, but that hasn’t stopped Mr. Trump from promoting the regimen ...

... hydroxychloroquine .. can cause significant adverse events, including heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), both of which can be fatal; it can also have neuropsychiatric effects such as agitation, confusion, hallucinations and paranoia.

Just as importantly, patients who need these drugs for continuing treatment of conditions such as lupus are seeing supplies sapped and their lives put at risk by speculators and hoarders ...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-we-dont-know-yet-if-hydroxychloroquine-can-treat-covid-19-and-trump/

[malaise]

2. The world's response to his drug

Fuck Trump

[struggle4progress]

3. Some doctors say hydroxychloroquine isn't helping

PUBLISHED: APR 9TH, 2020 - 2:02AM (EDT)
UPDATED: APR 9TH, 2020 - 2:04AM (EDT)
By Erika Edwards

... "We've been using it," said Dr. Hugh Cassiere, a pulmonologist and medical director of Respiratory Care Services at North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, New York, a hot spot for the pandemic in the United States. "But we really haven't seen any efficacy."

"I'm not convinced it works," said Lyn-Kew, adding, "I've not seen anybody have anything near what I would call a miraculous recovery because of hydroxychloroquine."

In Louisiana, Dr. Josh Denson, a pulmonary medicine and critical care physician at the Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans, said that "many patients do fine and tolerate it, but I don't think it's making a difference" ...

... "We know most people with COVID-19 get better on their own," said Dr. Wesley Self, an emergency physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, who is studying the drug.

"If you took those same people, and didn't give them medicine, many of them would report, we think, similar rates of recovery," Self said ...

https://www.wthr.com/article/some-doctors-say-hydroxychloroquine-isnt-helping-sickest-patients

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4. CDC Updates Website On Hydroxychloroquine

April 9, 2020 WLTZ Staff

... The CDC has updated its website to remove dosage guidance on hydroxychloroquine.

It’s currently used to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. But it’s been touted by president trump and other state officials as a possible treatment for COVID-19.

The updated CDC guidance for hydroxychloroquine is shorter and no longer gives dosage information, details nor studies about the drug.

The FDA hasn’t approved the drug to treat coronavirus.

And experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have warned the administration that the drug is unproven and that there are dangers in promoting it before data backs up its efficacy ...

https://www.wltz.com/2020/04/09/cdc-updates-website-on-hydroxychloroquine-usage/

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5. Publisher of hydroxychloroquine study says study did not meet expected standard

WED, APR 8TH, 2020 BY ALAN RYLAND

... the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, the publisher of a French study that found taking hydroxychloroquine was associated with the “viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients,” has said the study did not meet an “expected standard.”

“ISAC shares the concerns regarding the above article published recently in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (IJAA),” the organization, via its president Andreas Voss, said in a statement. “The ISAC Board believes the article does not meet the Society’s expected standard, especially relating to the lack of better explanations of the inclusion criteria and the triage of patients to ensure patient safety” ...

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/04/08/the-publisher-of-a-hydroxychloroquine-trump-cited-says-the-study-did-not-meet-expected-standard.html

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6. Hydroxychloroquine shortage for patients with autoimmune disease

Jessica McMaster
Posted at 6:25 PM, Apr 08, 2020 and last updated 10:14 PM, Apr 08, 2020

... pharmacists told the 41 Action News Investigators they noticed what was happening when doctors would call in a prescription for themselves and also for people with the same last name, some of whom live out of state, one pharmacist said.

Dr. Carrie Mihordin is a rheumatologist. She said, for some of her patients, not taking the drug is not an option due to the severity of their illness ...

Wallington Thorne said if the drug works for COVID-19 patients, she wants them to have it, but she doesn't want people being prescribed the medication on the chance they could catch the virus.

"The idea that I can't get a medicine that I need to survive because somebody's hoping that it works is pretty distressing," she said.

https://www.kshb.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-leads-to-hydroxychloroquine-shortage-for-patients-with-autoimmune-disease

[struggle4progress]

7. Inexcusable to ignore side effects

Mike Adams April 8, 2020

... Ackerman and his Mayo Clinic colleagues created a cardiac algorithm, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, to help physicians more safely prescribe hydroxychloroquine by identifying patients at greatest risk for drug-induced sudden cardiac death ...

... a small recent study showed that up to 11 percent of coronavirus patients on hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are in the so-called "red zone" for potential cardiac side effects.

"They've entered the danger zone," Ackerman said. "That is not just my hunch that patients are going to be reacting to this drug — but they are reacting to this drug" ...

... "This particular medicine is probably the only medication I know of that has become a Republican or a Democrat medication. That's just crazy" ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mayo-clinic-cardiologist-inexcusable-ignore-hydroxychloroquine-side-effects-n1178776

[struggle4progress]

8. Poison Control Centers report increase in hydroxychloroquine misuse

Apr 8, 2020,04:33pm EDT
Rachel Sandler
Forbes Staff

... “Hydroxychloroquine has some interactions with other drugs. In fact, we’ve heard about the combination of hydroxychloroquine and antibiotic azithromycin, which has the potential to cause some abnormalities in heart rhythm. That’s a concern for the people who have never taken it before and then take a large dose or someone who isn’t under doctor supervision,” said Mark Ryan, AAPCC president and director of the Louisiana Poison Center. Researchers have also warned that combining hydroxychloroquine with the diabetes drug metformin may be toxic ...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/04/08/us-poison-control-centers-report-surge-in-hydroxychloroquine-misuse/#10e152204fff

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9. What are the side effects?

BY HAYLEY FOWLER
APRIL 08, 2020 04:44 PM

... In Sweden, hospitals stopped giving chloroquine to coronavirus patients following reports of adverse side effects such as vision loss, cramping and headaches “that felt like stepping into a high voltage plant,” Newsweek reported.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, other side effects range from mild — such as dizziness, nausea and diarrhea — to severe — including sensitivity to light, bleeding, muscle weakness, hair loss and convulsions.

There’s also a rare but sometimes lethal side effect for people susceptible to heart conditions: “drug-induced sudden cardiac death,” NBC News reported ...

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241856266.html#storylink=cpy

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10. 'Dark money' groups pushed Trump to back unproven treatment

By Tatyana Monnay
April 8, 2020 11:39 am

... the conservative nonprofit group Job Creators Network collaborated with health care nonprofit Physicians for Reform to launch an online petition, a series of Facebook ads and a mass text message campaign urging Trump to make hydroxychloroquine available to treat patients battling COVID-19, Sludge reported. These groups do not disclose their sources of funding.

“There is clear and ever-mounting evidence that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine can significantly help patients who contract coronavirus,” the petition read.

One of Trump’s most influential supporters, Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, founded the Job Creators Network in 2011. Marcus gave $7 million to outside groups supporting Trump’s 2016 presidential run. He also gave $100,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action in 2018 to further support Trump’s second presidential bid and plans to spend even more to support Trump’s reelection ...

There is a shortage of hydroxychloroquine, which is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat malaria, arthritis and lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. The shortage is driven in part by doctors hoarding it and prescribing it to themselves, families and friends, ProPublica reported. Now, lupus patients are struggling to fill their prescription ...

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/04/dark-money-groups-pushed-trump-to-back-hydroxychloroquine/

[Laelth]

12. Excellent series of posts. Thank you. n/t

-Laelth

[duforsure]

11. Wait for it , trump will use his power to in some way hurt them now

From exposing this , and we know trump owns stocks connected to the drug he's been promoting daily . Others are now exposing it also from its deadly risks, even a Dr. from the Mayo clinic has.

[Mersky]

13. Helpful collection of links! kick!