As soon as we heard about surgeons prescribing hydroxychloroquine, we contacted regulators across the country. We put out a statement advising pharmacists not to fill these prescriptions and to reserve those medications for people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Most regulators around the country now have similar statements, in some cases a joint one between pharmacy and medicine, if not pharmacy, medicine and nursing, to make sure that these medications are safeguarded for people who are stabilized on them for chronic conditions, or that they are used in an acute care setting such as a hospital where it's under a tight protocol.