April 2020 - Newsletter #5

Buying Hydroxychloroquine Online for Coronavirus

Hydroxychloroquine, the generic name for the brand name drug Plaquenil, has generated plenty of attention as a potential treatment for COVID-19. To learn more about it, we invite you read our recent special feature article on hydroxychloroquine. Below we discuss whether hydroxychloroquine effectively treats COVID-19, buying it online and the impact that pharmaceutical supply disruptions are having on its price and the price of many other drugs, including ones you might need. (Click on the links below for more detail on the points being made. Please note that expressions of political views in any of the news articles we have researched and linked to are those of the author or person making such statements and not necessarily those of the NorthWestPharmacy.com. We prefer to provide resources that are apolitical but those are difficult find in the hydroxychloroquine debate.)

Do Hydroxychloroquine and Plaquenil Effectively Treat COVID-19?

There was much excitement when initial anecdotal studies suggested that hydroxychloroquine could be effective at treating COVID-19. More recent studies, however, have suggested that it may not be effective at all.

As far as we are aware, however, there have been no large scale clinical trials to properly or conclusively make a determination either way though some physicians are using it in limited circumstances as a treatment for COVID-19 where they deem it is "medically necessary".

Given the uncertain nature of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19, there is great debate as to whether the possible benefits of its use outweigh the sometimes serious side effects of the drug, including heart arrythmia.

Many Want to Buy Hydroxychloroquine Online

Both generic hydroxychloroquine and brand Plaquenil are in incredibly high demand since they’ve been proposed as possible treatments or prophylaxis for infection by the novel coronavirus. This has led to a shortage of the drugs and many to attempt to buy hydroxychloroquine online, including from NorthWestPharmacy.com.

Whenever products are in short supply, there is a higher risk that criminals will attempt to take advantage of the situation and sell counterfeit versions while desperate or unscrupulous vendors are apt to snap them up to turn a profit. In fact, there are so many pharmaceutical supply disruptions for multiple product lines at the moment that it is fueling a surge in counterfeit drugs. It's times like this when we are reminded that we need to continue to ensure drug safety and authenticity.

Aside from the proliferation of fake drugs, disruptions in the pharmaceutical supply chain have other negative consequences for patients who rely on the shorted drugs for the maintenance of their ongoing health conditions. In the case of hydroxychloroquine - which is typically prescribed for autoimmune conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis - these consequences can be quite severe.

Daily living can be come a painful experience for those who cannot access their maintenance doses of hydroxychloroquine. The failure to take the drug can cause flare ups, which may include joint pain, stiffness, swelling, fatigue and organ damage. New York City lupus patient, Peter Morley, recently told USA today, "[t]he prospect of no longer getting the drug, is 'terrifying.'" "'I can end up in the hospital - the last place I need to be, especially someone who is immunocompromised,'" he says in the same article.

A 40-year-old woman from Stockton, California, Aimee Blou, who lives with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, also told the USA Today she has noticed "everyday chores have become difficult. She struggles to get dressed, grip doors and start her car. Anything requiring her to make a fist or grip is too painful." She was forced to reduce and ration her hydroxychloroquine dosage to conserve her remaining pills because her pharmacist explained to her "'[i]t's all backordered … [w]e are not going to be able to give you these (90-day) refills.'"

The Disruption in Pharmaceutical Supply and Increasing Prices

The novel coronavirus pandemic has created disruptions in the supply of pharmaceutical drugs for several weeks now. As the international marketplace for drugs can be quite dynamic, shortages can and have been driving up the price of many drugs, including some of those you may take.

In the case of hydroxychloroquine, we have been doing our level best to source the product with considerable success in the circumstances in order to continue to supply our many patients who rely on this vital prescription drug to maintain their day-to-day quality of life. We did not increase our price to customers for this drug until late last week but it got to the point where we could no longer absorb the acquisition cost increases and continue to supply it. For customers who ordered it in advance of our necessary price increase, rest assured we will supply it at the price they originally placed their orders at. Orders placed after the price increase will regrettably have to be at the new higher price which we hope will be temporary. We simply cannot afford to maintain the previous price on this product.

This is happening with multiple other product lines and we have been providing twice weekly updates via newsletters noting this fact for several weeks.

We encourage customers to who may need medications in the coming months to place their orders now and those whose pending orders await shipping to keep their orders active and in the queue, which ensures they are locked in at the original price quoted at the time of placing the order. That's beneficial to you because we've absorbed most of the coronavirus-related increases in product acquisition costs that we’ve faced to date but may be unable to do so for much longer. Also, the limited pharmaceutical supply, available cargo space for transport and customs clearances will all be allocated to customers on a first-come-first-served basis and it may be quite some time before worldwide drug supply and delivery systems return to normal. Until such time, orders are no longer being billed at the time they are placed. We will hold your billing information but you won't be billed until your order is dispensed by our pharmacists and ready to be shipped. But, if for any reason you are unable to wait, you can cancel and you won't be billed for any item that has not been shipped.

For those who wish to buy hydroxychloroquine or brand Plaquenil from us, we have been forced to limit orders to those who require it for maintenance of their day-to-day health conditions, like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, rather than for coronavirus prophylaxis and treatment purposes at this time. We apologize in advance that we are not in a position to supply everybody who may want it and who have a prescription for it.

We encourage you to read our detailed update on the situation about the supply and delivery of all orders here, if you have not already done so.

Our NorthWestPharmacy.com team has been leveraging its global network of trusted suppliers and has been working around the clock to obtain new inventory. These continuing efforts have been quite successful. NorthWestPharmacy.com is one of the largest and most established online pharmacies providing lower cost medications from abroad to customers worldwide. No competitor offering lower cost pharmaceuticals from abroad can match our supply and delivery capacity during this difficult time so please rest assured we are leveraging all our capacity to ensure orders reach customers as fast as possible in the circumstances.

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