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Order Coming to Limit Prescriptions of Drugs Touted as COVID-19 Treatments
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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Gov. Mike DeWine says the state is limiting prescriptions of two drugs used for malaria and rheumatoid arthritis, after interest in those drugs spiked when President Trump tweeted out that they could be used to treatment COVID-19.
DeWine noted the Ohio Pharmacy Board met in a Sunday phone session to discuss an increased demand for chloroquine and hydroxycholorquine. The board agreed unanimously that all scripts for those drugs will be limited to a 14 day supply and only with a doctor’s diagnosis.
DeWine said he’d sign an order.
“This drug will be allowed to be prescribed for its intended purposes, certainly will also be allowed to be prescribed for COVID-19 for someone who has tested positive for that,” DeWine said.
DeWine said the order will make sure those drugs aren’t stockpiled or sold by recipients for profit, and that they’ll be available for people who use them to treat rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and malaria.