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The United States has supplied Brazil with 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine for use against the coronavirus, the two governments said...despite medical warnings about risks associated with the anti-malaria drug...The White House released a joint announcement on the drug, whose use has been touted both by U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, just days after the World Health Organization suspended testing it in COVID-19 patients because of safety concerns...HCQ will be used as a prophylactic to help defend Brazil’s nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals against the virus. It will also be used as a therapeutic to treat Brazilians who become infected...READ MORE

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned this week that some coronavirus antibody tests are inaccurate and cautioned that even the better tests should not be used to determine who can safely return to work or school...“Suffice to say, CDC is adequately worried about all the junk (antibody) tests that FDA let out on the market,” Mark Pandori, the director of Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, said...The CDC’s guidance comes at a time when public health agencies in Nevada are ramping up to offer the antibody tests to the public...READ MORE

One drug that has shown promise for treating COVID-19 is remdesivir, an experimental antiviral product...The drug that buoyed expectations for a coronavirus treatment and drew international attention for Gilead Sciences, remdesivir, started as a reject, an also-ran in the search for antiviral drugs. Its path to relevance did not begin until Robert Jordan cleared it…To make progress, Gilead needed help from U.S. taxpayers. Lots of help. Three federal health agencies were deeply involved in remdesivir's development every step of the way, providing tens of millions of dollars of government research support. Now that big government role has set up a political showdown over pricing and access...federal agencies have not asserted patent rights to Gilead's drug, potentially a blockbuster therapy worth billions of dollars. That means Gilead will have few constraints other than political pressure when it sets a price in coming weeks..."Without direct public investment and tax subsidies, this drug would apparently have remained in the scrap heap of unsuccessful drugs...READ MORE

U.S. pharmacy chains are preparing a big push for flu vaccinations when the season kicks off in October, hoping to curb tens of thousands of serious cases that could coincide with a second wave of coronavirus infections...CVS Health Corp...said it is working to ensure it has vaccine doses available for an anticipated surge in customers seeking shots to protect against seasonal influenza...Rival chain Rite Aid Corp has ordered 40 percent more vaccine doses to meet the expected demand. Walmart Inc and Walgreens Boots Alliance said they also are expecting more Americans to seek these shots...READ MORE

Evans (Lauran Evans, a recent graduate of the University Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine) was the first medical student at the university to volunteer as a swabber at the district site at the Reno-Livestock Events Center...She started helping out in March after the university canceled in-person classes...About 70 medical students are now volunteering as testers, babysitters and phone bankers through the Washoe County Health District, Reno’s Emergency Medical Services Authority and other providers...READ MORE

The United States will end its relationship with the World Health Organization over the body’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China...The move to quit the Geneva-based body, which the United States formally joined in 1948, comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over the coronavirus outbreak...Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said Chinese officials “ignored their reporting obligations” to the WHO about the virus - that has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally - and pressured the agency to “mislead the world.”...READ MORE

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy released the May 2020 Rogue Rx Activity Report, Rogue Online Pharmacies in the Time of Pandemic: Capitalizing on Misinformation and Fear. The report highlights how illegal online pharmacies use COVID-19 to expand operations and prey on consumer fears...NABP has identified dozens of rogue online pharmacies claiming to sell prescription drugs marketed for COVID-19 treatment. Drugs such as chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and ritonavir are being sold online after they gained media attention; however, these are unproven treatments for COVID-19 and are dangerous when taken without proper medical supervision...READ MORE

Attempting to capitalize on the pandemic, illegal online pharmacies are:

-adding coronavirus-related images to preexisting websites,
-purchasing domain names that include COVID-19 words and phrases,
-registering domain names with fraudulent “safe haven” registrars, and
-creating new website facades linking to non-coronavirus-related stores.

Heavy hearts soared Monday with news that Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate — the frontrunner in the American market — seemed to be generating an immune response in Phase 1 trial subjects…But was there good reason for so much enthusiasm?...based on the information made available...there’s really no way to know how impressive — or not — the vaccine may be...While Moderna blitzed the media, it revealed very little information — and most of what it did disclose were words, not data...Even the figures the company did release don’t mean much on their own, because critical information — effectively the key to interpreting them — was withheld...Experts suggest we ought to take the early readout with a big grain of salt...READ MORE

Requiring patients to visit a hospital, clinic or medical office to get an abortion pill is needlessly risking their health during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of physicians allege in a lawsuit that seeks to suspend the federal rule...The federal lawsuit, which the American Civil Liberties Union filed...in Maryland, questions why patients can’t fill a prescription for mifepristone by mail. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone to be used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, to end an early pregnancy or manage a miscarriage...“Of the more than 20,000 drugs regulated by the FDA, mifepristone is the only one that patients must receive in person at a hospital, clinic, or medical office, yet may self-administer, unsupervised, at a location of their choosing,” the lawsuit says...READ MORE

Walgreens has taken a big first step in meeting the growing need for mental health resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s health outcomes pharmacists have completed the first phase of training in mental health first aid, administered by the National Council for Behavioral Health...Mental health first aid training... includes information about mental health literacy and understanding the risk factors and warning signs of mental health and addiction concerns, as well as strategies to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations...“With the prevalence and rise of incidents of depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and others, specialized training can be key to identifying warning signs, and working with other providers, even finding gaps in care or treatment. We’ve long believed pharmacists can play an even greater role as part of patient’s care teams, and we’re proud to be at the forefront of our industry expanding our efforts in the area of mental health to help meet this growing need.”...READ MORE