Canadian sales of anti-malarial drug soared after Trump praised it

‘MAGICAL’ POWERS Touted as game-changer in COVID-19 fight

OTTAWA • Sales of hydroxychloroquine doubled in Canada last March as various preliminary reports and even U.S. President Donald Trump began touting it as an effective treatment for COVID-19, although studies have since failed to back up those claims.

Pharmacists and manufacturers say the surge in sales has led to a shortage for patients who actually need it.

Last March, 9.5-million doses of the anti-malaria drug mainly prescribed to treat autoimmune diseases such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis were sold in Canada, according to data from clinical research company IQVIA obtained by the National Post.

That’s more than double the volume distributed the previous month (4.7 million tabs), and nearly double the average monthly volume since January 2019 (roughly 5 million tabs), according to the IQVIA data.

That explosion in demand happened the same month hydroxychloroquine burst into the spotlight when a French researcher claimed he’d achieved a 100-per-cent cure rate for COVID-19 using the drug during a small clinical trial.

Though the experiment was quickly criticized for its small sample size and lack of peer review, the U.S. president praised the drug (taken alongside azithromycin) as a potential “game-changer” in the fight against COVID-19 on March 21.

“Given the media hype around hydroxychloroquine, given messaging coming out of the White House and out of President Trump, there are a lot of people that are wanting to believe that hydroxychloroquine is that panacea, that magical drug that will protect us against COVID-19,” explained Allan Malek, Chief Pharmacy Officer for the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA).

“It’s understandable, because people are looking for that solution that’s going to protect them. And I think the numbers have moved as a result of that hype,” he continued.

Last month, National Post also reported evidence that doctors had been accumulating supplies of the drug themselves or for others, prescribing unusual amounts as “office use,” leading several professional organizations to issue statements warning physicians that the drug’s efficacy had not been verified.

A growing body of evidence has since failed to find convincing evidence of hydroxychloroquine’s efficacy in treating COVID-19, but the drug can create a litany of collateral health issues.

“Health Canada recently warned Canadians of the serious side effects associated with chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, including heart rhythm problems, liver or kidney problems, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and nervous system problems,” a spokesperson for Health Canada said by email.

Despite that, global demand for hydroxychloroquine has exploded around the world, creating shortages in many countries, including Canada.

That issue is compounded by the fact that India, one of the world’s largest producers of hydroxychloroquine, shut down exports of the drug (and 23 others) in March to ensure domestic supply as COVID-19 spread through the country.

As revealed by the National Post last month, it was only through intense pressure by the Canadian government that Canada was able to secure an order for five-million capsules of the drug made back in November.

That shipment, ordered by Mississauga-based Mint Pharmaceuticals, arrived on May 5, CEO Jaiveer Singh confirmed in an interview. By then, Singh said, supplies of hydroxychloroquine were dwindling fast throughout the country. His company supplies roughly 60 per cent of all orders of the drug in Canada.He also believes it’s likely patients who use hydroxychloroquine to treat autoimmune disorders may have been stocking up in fear of a shortage, once publicity around the drug’s possible use for COVID-19 began growing.

“This is a product that has historically appeared in the drug-shortage database in Canada," Singh explained of its history.

"So we believe that some of patients (who suffer autoimmune diseases) might have been proactive, and that wanted to get ahead of this when they realized that this was being touted by the leader of the free world as the cure-all for COVID-19.”

Despite that, Singh said his company is well-positioned to avoid any major supply issues of the medication in Canada and continues to work to secure more orders of the drug.

He also says demand for the drug has decreased significantly over the last few weeks, perhaps because of the mounting body of evidence against the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.

An order by federal and provincial public health organizations to only prescribe 30-day doses of the drug to current patients has also helped reduce the strain on Canadian supply chains, said Malek.

On Tuesday, a World Health Organization spokesperson said multiple treatments were showing promise in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, but did not name any of them.

“We do have some treatments that seem to be in very early studies limiting the severity or the length of the illness but we do not have anything that can kill or stop the virus,” Margaret Harris was quoted as saying in a new briefing.