PEMBROKE PINES, Fla.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Shipments of the drug hydroxychloroquine will be making their way to Dade and Broward County hospitals to help people seriously ill with COVID-19, according to Florida\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s governor Ron DeSantis announced in the opening of his Saturday coronavirus briefing that hospital systems in Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties, plus some hospitals in Orlando will receive the drug.<\/p>\n Hydroxychloroquine is currently under investigation for treatment of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was being utilized in the state of New York. We had a Floridian who used it and was in very bad shape and it seemed to clear up the lungs and the virus,” said Desantis.<\/p>\n DeSantis said U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, \u201ca friend of mine,\u201d helped to get him a connection to Israeli drug company\u00a0Teva Pharmaceutical Industries<\/a>\u00a0who has the drug.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we are working with Teva and we\u2019ve arranged shipments,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m not a doctor. I\u2019m not telling anyone to take it or not take it, but I do believe in the idea of a right to try. If someone is in bad shape and there is no other treatment available and a doctor believes this is something that is helpful, we want that patient be able to have that.\u201d<\/p>\n DeSantis said once the hospitals who need it have it and there are other hospitals that would like to get it, that those systems should let the Florida Department of Emergency Management know.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be able to help people throughout the state and we will work to coordinate that. If someone is in dire condition and has no other option, we want to be able to give them all the opportunities they have.\u201d He thanked Teva for \u201cturning around that order quickly\u201d and getting the shipment out to Florida. He did not give a specific timeline of the arrival of the drug.<\/p>\n DeSantis stressed that a doctor would have to work with the patient in the decision to be treated with hydroxychloroquine. The drug would be used to treat coronavirus in what is called \u201coff-label.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Florida Gov. Ron Desantis has hydroxychloroquine drug on its way to Florida to help with the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p><\/div>\n
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