Posted by Michael Wonder on 21 Mar 2020
Potential coronavirus treatment touted by Trump already in shortage, pharmacists say
19 March 2020 - An old malaria treatment that has been tried with some success against the new coronavirus and was touted by U.S. President Donald Trump at a news briefing earlier on Thursday is in short supply as demand surges amid the fast-spreading outbreak.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which maintains a list of drugs in shortage independent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's list, added the generic malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to its list on Thursday. Four out of eight manufacturers of the drug are currently in shortage, it said.
The new coronavirus, which causes the highly contagious COVID-19 respiratory illness, emerged in December in Wuhan, China and has spread throughout the world.
