Experience of HCQ shortages among patients with SLE during the pandemic and regional mitigation strategies
| Country* (n responses) | Canada (n=7) | USA (n=8) | France (n=1) | UK (n=4) | Spain (n=1) | Italy (n=1) | Sweden (n=1) | Denmark (n=1) | Argentina (n=1) | Australia (n=1) | Turkey (n=2) | Singapore (n=1) | South Korea (n=1) |
| HCQ access issues | |||||||||||||
| Concerned about HCQ shortages, n | |||||||||||||
| Current | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Resolved | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Physicians contacted by patients re: HCQ access issue, n | 3 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Estimated % of patients with SLE affected (range) | 3%–5% | 5%–40% | 70% | 0%–5% | NR | 20% | – | – | 30% | 50% | 0%–1% | – | – |
| Regional mitigation strategies | |||||||||||||
| Limiting authorised prescribers | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | ||||||
| Limiting HCQ to specific diagnoses | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | ||||||
| Limiting dispensed supply | + | ||||||||||||
| Physician/patient association advocacy | + | + | + | ||||||||||
| Hospital or pharmacies reserved supply for patients with SLE | + | ||||||||||||
*One respondent did not indicate country of origin and is not included in this table.
HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; NR, not reported; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.