Pharmacists said that what they have seen in terms of prescriptions for these drugs, which are used to treat autoimmune disorders, is the medical equivalent of hoarding toilet paper.

Ohio doctors are obtaining so many prescriptions of a possible coronavirus treatment for themselves, their families, their colleagues and their friends that it’s wiping out the supply for everybody else — including people with lupus who will become more susceptible to the virus without their usual medication.

As a result, Ohio’s pharmacy board, in an emergency meeting Sunday morning, barred pharmacists from dispensing chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 unless a person has tested positive for the virus or is otherwise approved by the pharmacy board’s executive director.

In order to get either of those drugs, the patient must have their positive test 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.

“This was an action that was necessary by the pharmacy board, and I thank them for doing that,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday at his daily coronavirus news conference.

In a tweet, DeWine said, “There has been a huge uptick in prescriptions of these drugs and we need to make sure that they are being used in the most appropriate way.”

Today @OhioRxBoard met to pass emergency rules that restrict dispensing of malaria medications. There has been a huge uptick in prescriptions of these drugs and we need to make sure that they are being used in the most appropriate way.

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 22, 2020

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Prescriptions written for presumptive care or prophylactic (preventative) reasons are now prohibited by the pharmacy board’s order.

“In the last several days, myself and many of my colleagues have witnessed a deluge of inappropriate prescribing of (the drug) by area physicians,” a Dublin pharmacist told the State Medical Board last week.

A nationwide rush on the drugs has occurred, in part, after President Donald Trump said the drugs might slow the spread of COVID-19.

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There is no established treatment for COVID-19, and the drugs are being used in some places on an experimental basis based on reports of success from small trials elsewhere, including France.

Ohio’s pharmacy board voted 7-0 Sunday morning to issue the order after a request from DeWine’s office to address the rise in prescriptions.

The board members conducted the meeting by teleconference and did not take questions from the media.

Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, expressed concerns Saturday and again Sunday during news conferences about the increase in prescriptions for those drugs.

“This drug is essential to a lot of people with autoimmunological diseases. ... It’s really supposed to be used in life and death (coronavirus) situations,” she said Sunday at the daily press conference.

>> Video: Dr. Amy Acton discusses rise in prescriptions for certain drugs

Pharmacists said that what they have seen in terms of prescriptions for these drugs is the medical equivalent of hoarding toilet paper.

“It pisses me off that they (prescribed) these scripts for people that are not even sick or just to have on hand for themselves,” one pharmacist wrote to Ernie Boyd, executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association. “When I find out these scripts are for themselves or family members just to have in case they need it, I am just appalled.“

When asked to justify the prescriptions, doctors come up with “a range of answers,” the Dublin pharmacist told the medical board.

“One prescriber admitted to wanting to have (it) on hand for coronavirus treatment. Another two insisted the treatment was for (rheumatoid arthritis) and lupus, yet the dosing and patient history (none) were not consistent with this,” the pharmacist said.

Attorney General Dave Yost said the pharmacy board has jurisdiction to investigate any questionable prescriptions and said his office will assist the board.

Pharmacy board members were still mulling over possible oversight and declined further comment Sunday when contacted by The Dispatch.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting joints and sometimes the skin, eyes, lungs, heart and blood vessels.

Barb Faber, 38, of Belle Center, said a shortage of medicine to treat her lupus is alarming because she could die without treatment.

“This medication is the only thing that stopped my body from attacking itself,” she said. “People taking it that don't need it is ridiculous. Doctors taking this med, when they know what patients go through and how dangerous it is if they don't have it, is disgraceful. I went through years of testing to get my diagnosis, and I went through many medications to find this one thing that works.“

Antonio Ciaccia, director of government and public affairs for the Ohio Pharmacists Association, described a “deluge of prescriptions that is just insane ... it's like nothing we've ever seen.”

Ciacca said one central Ohio pharmacist described the surge in prescriptions as “the equivalent of the troops back at the base eating the meals of the troops that are on the front line.”

Complaints from pharmacists have emerged from Florida to the state of Washington. Already, regulators in Texas and Idaho have stepped in because of the tide of hydroxycholorquine prescriptions in those states.

Ciaccia said that while front-line physicians possibly encountering COVID-19 patients might have an ethical argument to prescribe the drugs to themselves, the widespread writing of prescriptions compares to what pharmacists saw during the height of the opioid crisis.

But Ciaccia said pharmacists from across Ohio are “finding out this is prospective proscribing and not for legitimate medical purposes,” he said. Some of those seeking the drug are OB/GYNs or dermatologists, he noted.

The Dublin druggist noted, “The supply must be protected and used judiciously to, once approved, treat confirmed COVID-19 infections and continue to supply current patients, not stockpiled by a handful of fearful individuals ’just in case.’"

Trump said Thursday and again Saturday at press conferences that chloroquine and an experimental antiviral drug remdesivir were being tested as possible COVID-19 therapies and could slow the epidemic.

"It could have a very positive effect, or a positive effect, maybe not very, but maybe positive," he said. "It’s very, very exciting."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, refuted Trump’s assertion, saying “there is no magic drug for coronavirus.”

Dispatch Editor Alan Miller contributed to this story.

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