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NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A drug used to treat malaria might also be used to treat patients with COVID-19, and a South Florida company said they’re ready to fill those prescriptions for certain patients.
While there is currently no cure for the virus, hydroxychloroquine has been at the forefront of world health experts’ conversation about possible treatment options.
Studies in China, South Korea and France show the drug, usually used to treat malaria, could help with COVID-19.
And that’s why Cano Health, a healthcare provider based in Northwest Miami-Dade, has developed a plan to begin getting the drug to patients in South Florida.
However, doctors said that might not happen right away, as it first needs to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
“The issue is it has not been FDA-approved, but we have no other alternate therapy,” said Dr. Richard Aguilar, Cano Health’s chief clinical officer.
Aguilar said studies show significant improvement for some patients who take hydroxychloroquine with a Z-pack antibiotic.
“Right now, 40% of the people hospitalized are less than 65. Imagine that: 20% of the people hospitalized are less that 44,” he said. “That is a lot of people sick, and if I can give an antibiotic or an anti-malarial — because the antibiotic doesn’t work on its own, but the anti-malarial does, hydroxychloroquine — and potentially change a clinical outcome, I would be willing to take that risk with a patient if they are willing to take the risk with me.”
Because it is not FDA-approved, Aguilar said Cano Health will only prescribe the combination of the medicines to patients who meet certain criteria. Among other things, he said, they would have to have a current electrocardiogram.
Aguilar listed the drug’s possible side effects.
“You can have some headaches and some dizziness, and some kind of visual lines that go around, but those discussions will be with the patient, to go over a full discussion of what those risks are,” he said. “As I talked about, it may slow your heart rhythm.”
The bottom line is that the federal government is still studying whether the malaria drug actually works for COVID-19 and what the risks are, but Cano Health and other hospitals have started using it for patients for whom they feel it could make a difference.
“It might be effective. I’m not saying it is not, but as a scientist, as we are getting it out, we need to do it in a way that, while we are making it available to the people who might want the hope that it might work, we are also collecting data that will ultimately show it is truly effective and safe under the conditions of COVID-19,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
What is important to remember is that hydroxychloroquine, or any prescription medicine used to treat COVID-19, should not be taken without the advice of a doctor.
Anyone with questions and concerns about the coronavirus can call the Florida Department of Health’s 24-hour hotline at 1-866-779-6121.
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