Are doctors hoarding drugs that might treat COVID-19? Not in Kentucky, officials say.
Kentucky pharmacists are being reminded to use “professional judgment” in filling doctors’ prescriptions for drugs being used experimentally to treat COVID-19, but there is no evidence Kentucky doctors are hoarding the drugs for their family and friends, two health professional groups said Monday.
The reminder comes amid news reports from other states that some physicians are giving prescriptions to family and friends for large quantities of the drugs, which are in short supply.
Larry Hadley, executive director of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy in Frankfort, and Leanne Diakov, general counsel for the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure in Louisville, said Monday they have no specific information that such hoarding is occurring in Kentucky.
“We heard about this last week and in discussion with the pharmacy board and the state Department of Public Health decided no further action was needed at this time,” Diakov said.
“Such an act would have to be stated in a grievance about a doctor and so far we have nothing like that, no open investigations of that nature,” she said.
Hadley said the pharmacy board has a website for pharmacists that answers frequently asked questions about COVID-19. One question on the website notes allegations of physicians writing personal prescriptions for the drugs.
Hadley said that question was based on “what we hear is happening in some other states.”
It mentions the drugs chloroquine, andremdesivir, andhydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. Such drugs often are used to fight Lupus, malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and liver infections.
The website says pharmacists who handle such prescriptions should “use professional judgment. Like always, the pharmacist must use professional judgment to determine if a valid patient-prescriber relationship exists and keep in mind if there is enough of the drug in stock to treat RA (rheumatoid arthritis) patients who receive it on a regular basis when deciding whether or not to dispense the prescription.”
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Sunday that Ohio doctors are obtaining so many prescriptions of the drugs for family and friends that it’s wiping out the supply for everybody else.
It said Ohio’s pharmacy board met in an emergency meeting Sunday morning and barred pharmacists from dispensing the drugs unless a person has tested positive for COVID-19 or is otherwise approved by the pharmacy board’s executive director.
The Ohio board said to get either of those drugs the patient’s positive test must be disclosed by the doctor on the prescription request. The prescription must be limited to a 14-day supply and no refills are permitted without a new written prescription.
Prescriptions written for presumptive care or prophylactic (preventative) reasons were prohibited.
The Enquirer said a nationwide rush on the drugs occurred, in part, after President Donald Trump said the drugs could potentially slow the spread of COVID-19.
It could not be immediately learned if Kentucky has seen an increase in prescriptions of such drugs.
Modern Healthcare reported March 20 that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are in short supply nationwide after hospitals began buying the drug in bulk.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still investigating whether the drugs can help treat COVID-19, but hospitals are responding to clinical trials in other countries that have shown promising results, the publication reported.
It added that all major wholesale distributors have put the drugs on allocation this week, which limits ordering to prevent hoarding.
Ginger Dreyer, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Hospital Association, said Monday none of the 119 hospitals it represents “has reached out to us” about a shortage of the drugs in Kentucky
She said she has not heard of any Kentucky hospital buying the trial drugs in bulk. “We are hearing about more protective gear but not these drugs,” she said.
Some pharmaceutical companies have reported they are working to produce more of the drugs.
