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A federal health official on Tuesday sought to tamp down mounting excitement in some quarters over the potential for antimalarial drugs to treat the new coronavirus, though a Trump administration adviser voiced more optimism. Doctors, patients and researchers have been looking for treatments that can tackle the virus as it spreads across the world. World-wide cases of Covid-19, the pneumonialike disease caused by the virus, surpassed 400,000 on Tuesday and more than 18,500 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (Rockoff and Abbott, 3/24)

Doctors are hoarding medications touted as possible coronavirus treatments by writing prescriptions for themselves and family members, according to pharmacy boards in states across the country. The stockpiling has become so worrisome in Idaho, Kentucky, Ohio, Nevada, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Texas that the boards in those states have issued emergency restrictions or guidelines on how the drugs can be dispensed at pharmacies. More states are expected to follow suit. “This is a real issue and it is not some product of a few isolated bad apples,” said Jay Campbell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy. (Gabler, 3/24)

A randomized controlled trial is the “most appropriate way” to determine whether antimalarial drugs fit within a potential treatment program for patients with Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, Amy Abernethy, principal deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Tuesday during The Wall Street Journal Health Forum. (Hopkins, 3/24)

A treatment for malaria might be effective in combating the coronavirus if used early on, Dr. Jeff Colyer, a surgeon and the former governor of Kansas, said at The Wall Street Journal’s Health Forum, held remotely by videoconference on Tuesday. Dr. Colyer specifically mentioned using the treatment, known as hydroxychloroquine, along with Zithromax Z-Pak, Pfizer Inc.’s brand name drug for the antibiotic azithromycin. “We have to go to war with the weapons you have at the time,” he said. “We don’t have any other weapons except social distancing and great medical care, but we don’t have a tool. We are not suggesting that this is a magic bullet, but the data that we have seen so far, it perhaps could be effective.” (Prang, 3/24)

As New York State continues to see a rise in cases of the novel coronavirus and is the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, clinical trials for drug treatments began on Tuesday in the state. The state acquired 70,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine, 10,000 doses of zithromax and 750,000 doses of chloroquine in the last few days, according to a news release by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. (Lantry, 3/24)

Roche Holding AG is supplying its arthritis drug Actemra to doctors on the front lines fighting the new coronavirus, Alexander Hardy, chief executive of Roche’s Genentech business, said during The Wall Street Journal Health Forum on Tuesday. Actemra isn’t approved to treat the new coronavirus. Yet there are signs it might work, and Roche has said it would start testing the drug to see if it works against the virus. (Abbott, 3/24)

The White House is preparing to use software provided by the technology giant Oracle to promote unproven coronavirus treatments, including a pair of malaria drugs publicized by President Trump, potentially before the government approves their use for the outbreak, according to five senior administration officials and others familiar with the plans. (Weiland and Haberman, 3/24)

Health and Human Services agencies such as the FDA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are part of the Oracle efforts, as is the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the Times reported, citing two senior administration officials, who said the platform could be used to gather data from doctors who prescribe the drugs and track symptoms in patients. (Budryk, 3/24)