UDoH defends state’s announced deal for purchase of drug now disputed as effective in COVID-19 treatment

Image: Google Maps; CDC

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 23, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Department of Health has issued a statement on the state’s deal to purchase hydroxychloroquine, a drug that Pres. Donald Trump said showed promise in the treatment of COVID-19.

Hydroxychloroquine is an existing drug is used, among other things, to prevent or treat malaria caused by mosquito bites.

Utah Department of Health officials confirmed to media outlets on Tuesday that they had found a deal to purchase a 200,000 doses of the drug. Then, on Wednesday, David Holtgrave, a lead researcher of COVID-19 announced there was little research to indicate positive results from the drug.

“We have reviewed several hundred medical records of Covid patients at this point in over 20 hospitals and done a preliminary analysis,” Holtgrave said, according to a CNN article.

And suddenly, social media was peppered with Utahns asking how much taxpayer money was sunk into the purchase of a possibly ineffective drug.

“I guess no one saw the study in which more people died who took this drug than those having normal treatment,” one poster said.

“… It hasn’t actually been shown to work! Why are they spending my money on this?!,” said another.

“How do people make such stupid decisions, based, apparently, on the baseless assertions of anti-scientist Trump?,” a third asked.

The full UDoH statement, issued Thursday afternoon, follows:

In early March, as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to unfold in Utah, state leaders began making preparations for securing a wide variety of supplies that could potentially be useful in responding to the outbreak.

As part of those efforts, the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) and members of the state legislature entered into preliminary negotiations to purchase an allotment of 200,000 hydroxychloroquine treatments from pharmaceutical supplier Meds in Motion.

The UDOH today announced it is still researching FDA requirements concerning the compounding and distribution of hydroxychloroquine, and that to date no contract has been signed by the UDOH for the 200,000 treatments.

“The most consistent element of COVID-19 has been that things are constantly changing,” said Gen. Jefferson Burton, acting executive director of the UDOH.

“We wanted to put ourselves in a position that if there were to be a shortage in the supply chain of hydroxychloroquine we were well-positioned to be able to provide medication to Utah residents who need it. The good news is, the supply chain has recently shown signs of stabilization.”

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