Will Hydroxychloroquine be available without a prescription?

No. But right to fight legislation should clearly allow folks who have Coronavirus obtain it.

It isn't a cure all. The studies so far have been poor quality. Not placebo controlled. Not double blinded. FDA will require both placebo and double blinded studies and will require MORE than one study (they like to have 2 high quality studies before they approve drugs).

And these trials are usually expensive. Drug companies spend many millions for one study alone and it is doubtful any such company will sponsor a trial of choroquine for this purpose (no profit in a generic drug). However, this is an emergency and I could see them sponsoring it pro bono which would be the right thing to do.

All that said, the data are so far promising. So far, chloroquine is showing a 70% cure rate when used alone and a 100% cure rate when used in conjunction with certain antibiotics. Even so, one patient in the study died during treatment and 3 others dropped out because they had to go to ICU.

This is why you should be skeptical of the "100% cure" hype. It most certainly is bogus. Wait for real clinical trials with larger sample sizes. Of course, time is of the essence here, so we'll see how fast they can put together high quality studies.

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Some doctors might be hesitant to prescribe it, until many studies are done

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Bingo. No FDA approval will hurt too. This is why FDA will likely "fast track" an approval at some point. We just need at least one decent study that has the proper controls in place. The one in France published yesterday with neither blinded nor placebo controlled.

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by redneck hippie
Can y’all wait till we get our checks?

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^^^ Precisely what it’s all about

The politicians will have to all get their share of the stimulus until the cure can be exposed most likely

If the drug has been in use for years, and has been deemed safe. IMO it should be made available OTC. Let people decide for themselves. We're not talking about a narcotic here.

We need to get something happening fast.

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Questions: what are the risks of the drug?

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A PT doc or pharmacist can answer better than I. But one guy dropped out of the French study because of severe nausea. A quick google search shows the following side-effects:

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Blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headache, and diarrhea may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.

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There are some more severe, but more rare, side-effects as well (which is common with most every drug).

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Blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headache, and diarrhea may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly

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Sounds like the effects of COVID and being sick anyways

Absolutely not. We don’t need all you idiots buying it all up.

You fricking people can’t be trusted with toilet paper and you want to be able to just buy one of the few drugs that might work against this virus?

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Some doctors might be hesitant to prescribe it,

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Times like these are when I’m glad I can walk in the back door of our local mom & pop pharmacy and tell my man what I need.

Also, I went to one website that said it was unscheduled. Are y’all sure it even needs a script?

Nope sorry, eat a dick. You’ll cough once and go buy it for everyone in your house.

You stupid frick, I will just come take yours.