CDC: Hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine prescribing patterns

Editor's Note

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on September 4 reported on prescribing patterns of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine by provider specialty in the US between January and June 2020.

• New prescriptions by specialists who do not typically prescribe hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine increased from 1,143 in February 2020 to 75,569 in March 2020, an 80-fold increase from March 2019.
• The overall number of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine prescriptions dispensed in March and April 2020 increased from 819,906 in 2019 to 1,312,859 in 2020. Primary care prescribers wrote 63% of new prescriptions in April.
• During March and April 2020, nonroutine prescribers accounted for the largest percentage increase in new prescriptions compared to 2019—81.3-fold and 18.1-fold increases in March and April, respectively. Nonroutine prescribers with the highest volume and growth in March 2020 were ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and cardiology.
• In May 2020, new prescriptions declined to 37,537 of all hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine prescriptions, with a similar number in June 2020 of 38,803.

Mail-order prescriptions and prescriptions given in inpatient settings were not included in the numbers, the CDC says.