Bucks Montgomery Physician Fall 2020 - 10

FEATURE

Regarding HCQ

by Mark Lopatin, MD

This article was written with the information available in mid-August, 2020, and may not reflect data that is currently available.

t the end of July, a group of doctors that call
themselves America's Frontline Doctors (AFD)
held a press conference on the steps of the
Supreme Court. During that presentation, they promoted
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a cure for Covid and stated
that masks were not necessary during the pandemic. In
view of the claims made, I feel I must chime in. First
my credentials to comment on this are as follows. As
a rheumatologist, I have prescribed this drug for more
than 30 years. I have researched the data on the use
of HCQ in Covid and have both given grand rounds
and have been published in Physician Outlook on the use
of this drug for Covid. My thoughts are as follows:
1. There has been much discussion on the efficacy and
safety of this drug. There are 2 bigger issues in my
mind. These are:
a. Who should be making decisions
re prescribing HCQ?
b. Should people be censored for their
opinions on HCQ?
2. The politicization of this drug is abhorrent.
Almost every, if not every, social media post I
see supporting or opposing HCQ, aligns with
the political leaning of the person posting it.

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fall 2020

3. Those on the left have greatly amplified the risks of
this drug.
4. Those on the right have greatly amplified the efficacy
of this drug.
5. In medicine we use balance scales, i.e. risk /benefit
analysis, to determine treatment. One must look at
the evidence on both sides of the scale to have an
informed opinion on possible treatments.
6. I have a significant problem with people cherry
picking data that aligns with their opinion and ignoring
the data that doesn't. For example, if you want to
quote the Henry Ford study supporting the use of
HCQ, you also need to acknowledge the University of
Minnesota study that doesn't, and vice versa.
7. Harvey Risch, an epidemiologist from Yale, recently
promoted the use of the drug in a Newsweek editorial.
In that article he states, "I am fighting for a treatment
that the data fully support but which, for reasons
having nothing to do with a correct understanding
of the science, has been pushed to the sidelines. As a
result, tens of thousands of patients with COVID-19
are dying unnecessarily. Fortunately, the situation can

Bucks Montgomery Physician Fall 2020

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