TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Even more shipments of hydroxychloroquine, a drug commonly used to treat malaria but not yet widely considered safe and effective against coronavirus, are coming to Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced.
The governor spent time during a news conference Tuesday focusing on the drug and questioning doctors -- one of whom was video conferenced in -- on how people receiving treatment for COVID-19 coronavirus are reacting to it.
While the doctors expressed caution and some doubt over it being some bullet-proof treatment, DeSantis said they'll be able to get their hands on more of it.
One of them, pulmonary specialist Sunil Kumar at Broward Health, said hydroxychloroquine "absolutely" should be among the slate of options to help treat coronavirus patients.
"It's the number one question being asked right now," said DeSantis, referring to treatments for coronavirus.
His administration worked with Teva Pharmaceuticals to secure doses for the state, but the company had been having trouble getting the drug out of India for some time.
A phone call to the president appeared to alleviate some of the roadblocks.
"I spoke with President Trump and he spoke with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, and Modi has made an exception to the United States ... they have sent a second shipment already to Florida hospitals," said DeSantis, adding the state will receive more Zithromax Z-Pak, a drug used in conjunction with hydroxychloroquine as a treatment option.
Another million doses from Amneal Pharmaceuticals soon will be distributed statewide, the governor announced.
Trump has openly advocated hydroxychloroquine during many of the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings. Health care experts have said there's only anecdotal evidence in the drug's success, and actual clinical trials are underway.
Last week, he said, "What do you have to lose? I'll say it again: What do you have to lose? Take it. I really think they should take it. But it's their choice and it's their doctor's choice or the doctors in the hospital."
Death is among one of many side effects, said Carlos Campos, a specialist in pulmonary disease during DeSantis' news briefing. The drug could lead to irregularities in the electrical rhythms of the heart and prove fatal.
"I would not recommend using these as an outpatient because they cannot be monitored," Campos said, adding if administrated, it needs to be given under the supervision of a doctor.
In some of the sicker patients, Kumar said they've responded well to hydroxychloroquine treatments. For one, doctors used a combination of the drug and acetaminophen -- the generic name for Tylenol -- or switched it up by using a Z-Pak.
Strategies are changing "hour by hour," Kumar said, and it's not medication alone: Doctors are using ventilators and a medical process involving patients lying on their back for several hours only to be flipped onto their stomach for several more.
Hydroxychloroquine should be one of the many treatment options available, and not the only one, Kumar said.
"I don’t want people to assume that’s the only thing that’s available -- but that’s a medication that’s been used for a long time, it’s being tested, we’re not sure whether it’ll to work," he said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said something to the effect last week: Americans shouldn't consider hydroxychloroquine a "knockout drug."
The Food and Drug Administration in late March issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and another type of anti-malarial drug but has yet to approve them as effective treatments.
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