Posted on 03/29/2020 5:50:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
There is a shortage of the drug after Donald Trump said over the weekend that it could be used to treat COVID-19.
Kaiser Permanente will temporarily stop filling prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine for some patients in order to preserve the drug for “severely sick patients,” including those who have contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Hydroxychloroquine, which is sold under the brand name Plaquenil, is an anti-malaria drug that is also used to treat lupus. Over the weekend, it was touted as a possible treatment for COVID-19 by Donald Trump.
“HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine,” Trump tweeted on Saturday — quickly creating a high demand for hydroxychloroquine and an ensuing shortage.
The regional medical director of Quality and Clinical Analysis at Kaiser Permanente, Southern California, Nancy Gin, told BuzzFeed News that there is a “real possibility” of running out of the drug if steps are not made to “mitigate the shortage.”
“As we face the real possibility of running out of the drug for everybody if we don’t take steps to mitigate the shortage, Kaiser Permanente, like other health care organizations across the country, has had to take steps to control the outflow of the medication to ensure access to severely sick patients, including both COVID-19 and those with acute lupus,” Gin told the outlet.
Gin said that the drug can stay in the body for more than a month after it’s taken, and that Kaiser Permanente expects there to be plenty for every patient who needs it soon.
“Extensive experience and research show that hydroxychloroquine builds up in the body and continues to work for an average of 40 days even after the last dose is taken,” Gin said.
(Excerpt) Read more at people.com ...
Surprise.
by then it’s probably too late
Production needs to be ramped up. but does this drug come from overseas too?
Where is the 6mil doses that Israel donated? And another nation (can’t recall which) intended to donate 5mil doses to us.
Make more.
Out of work restaurant employees can help.
Does it have a natural source or can it be synthesized?
“Production needs to be ramped up”
production is being ramped up by several companies here in the U.S.: Mylan, Teva, et. al. ...
Good move too. Prioritize. Step out of the routine. Clipping at the edges by those with access and privilege is inevitable, that is the way of the world. Count those doses lost no matter what.
Is Z-pack easy to ramp up?
As I understand it, the drug’s use for lupus is as a palliative, whereas for corona virus, it’s a potential life saver, so KP is prioritizing the latter use, as opposed to the Michigan governor.
this san gabriel man suffering from pneumonia apparently did not need hydroxychlorine / z-pack according to kaiser:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1244309931874017280
Bayer (Germany) produces it was going to donate 3M doses.
Waiting for Emergency authorization
they tried to blame President Trump for the drug shortage because he “touted” it, and yet the reason Kaiser is preserving their supply is to use it for the same reason President Trump “touted” it, namely Kaiser too must think it works to cure COVID-19 ... how evil of President Trump to discuss a drug that cures COVID-19; he should be impeached ...
They’re still getting it wrong. It needs to be given before COVID-19 patients are severely ill. Wait until they’re severely ill and you’ve probably waited too long.
People magazine.
Now there is a true medical authority.
Kaiser has always been another branch of the deep state.
Anything to go against our CIC.
RE: People magazine.
Now there is a true medical authority.
_______________________
This isn’t a medical article.
Someone posted yesterday that it takes months to build and bring up a new Clean Room for the manufacture of these drugs. It sounded 'legit' - but at these times we should be ok with a 'Clean enough' room. I.e., no need for Semiconductor Nanotechnology grade Class 1 Clean Rooms. Class 10,000, or 100,000 is probably fine. We eat bug bits in our cereal for Pete's sake - a 'Clean Enough' Room (e.g., just keep the coyotes and cats from wandering onto the floor) is fine - and hopefully the FDA doesn't put up roadblocks.
Regarding the necessary materials - I presume they aren't harvested from rare flowers that only bloom one week a year in the Himalayas - and are synthesized from readily accessible chemicals. But admittedly, I don't know. If they are from hard to find materials - than I suppose we are up a foul creek. That said, I'd still recommend 'soldiering on', and getting out of this perpetual 'duck and cover' mode of 'living'.
If it were worthless, as the anti-Trump people say, why preserve it for the sickest?
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