Plaquenil

What is Plaquenil? | What is Hydroxychloroquine?

Plaquenil is the brand name for the active substance Hydroxychloroquine that is coming in form of oral tablet. Hydroxychloroquine also might be found as other trade names in generic versions and usually, generic drugs have a lower price compared to the brand name. Hydroxychloroquine better known as Plaquenil is being used for treating Lupus Erythematosus as well as Rheumatoid Arthritis and also it can be given as a preventative or treatment for malaria.

Nonetheless, most recently, the compound has is studied for the treatment of the novel Coronavirus – the virus which had an outbreak in 2019-2020 and has disastrous consequences.

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) known as Plaquenil and others was approved for medical use in the USA back in 1955 and taken in consideration that it may be an effective treatment against COVID-19, the compound may have a very high demand lately. Hydroxychloroquine is currently on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of essential medicines indicating that is among the most effective and safest medicines required in a health system.

The compound got in the top 150 most prescribed medications in USA but taking in consideration the late outbreak of the new Coronavirus – there are high chances that it would be even more prescribed and it would have a high demand.

The oral medicine is considered to be pretty cheap having a cost of about $ 5 USD or even less per month up to about US$ 25 USD per month.

This is a very old drug which does seem to come back to the fore taking in consideration that Hydroxychloroquine has been used for approximately 70 years or so for treating malaria, rheumatoid conditions as well as other health issues but is now proving to be pretty successful in testing it against coronavirus – the virus which plagues the entire world.

What is Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine) Used For? | How Does Plaquenil Work?

As mentioned, Plaquenil which is containing Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is used for treating malaria, rheumatic disorders like for example rheumatoid arthritis, Q fever as well as porphyria and also systemic lupus erythematosus. Nowadays the compound is very widely used in the treatment of post Lyme arthritis but as mentioned, there are studies done on this compound proving to be pretty efficient against novel Corona virus.

Mainly, Hydroxychloroquine is considered an antimalarial drug and is being used for treating malaria by killing the parasites which is causing the disease. However, the compound is differently working for rheumatoid arthritis and differently for COVID-19.

When talking about its use for treating lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis the compound isn’t fully understood how it works, but is believed that is affecting how the immune system is working and that’s a beneficial effect when talking about lupus erythematosus and/ or rheumatoid arthritis. How it works for COVID-19 there’s even less studies done, but the in vitro studies in cell cultures – Plaquenil has been proved to be even more potent than the other drug - Chloroquine experimented for treatment of SARS-CoV-2 known as COVID-19 or Coronavirus.

What Does Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate) Do? | Plaquenil For Coronavirus Covid-19

First off is important to understand that Plaquenil is only in research for the treatment of Covid-19 and there’s still not enough studies done proving it be actually helpful. Due to this, and due to the fact that more research should be done about Plaquenil containing Hydroxychloroquine, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still didn’t approve the drug for Coronavirus, although president Donald Trump calls the anti malaria drug a “gamer changer” for Coronavirus.

In the end, Plaquenil is an anti malaria medication but malaria and COVID-19 does not have too much in common. Malaria is a disease that is being caused by a parasite while Covid-19 is being caused by a virus. Nonetheless, there are still laboratory studies which prove that chloroquine is quite effective at preventing and also treating the virus which is causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (or shortly SARS). According to some virologists, the anti malarial product may be working by a plausible mechanism of blocking the virus entry and even inhibit the virus as a form of treatment. But is still not clear as not enough studies are done on how this would have an effect.

Since there’s a huge coronavirus crisis, the FDA has only approved the use of some of the anti malarial drugs among which we can mention: Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine but there are other experiments done on Lopinavir/ Ritonavir and Remdesivir which also seem to be helpful against coronavirus. Although not enough studies done, the product does seem to be pretty promising in the fight against this virus.

That’s why FDA has only approved the compound for seriously ill patients under the compassionate use program – the program which is allowing the use of new and unapproved drugs outside the clinical trials when no other treatments are available.

The anti malarial drugs such as Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine are being used as experiments treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and it does seem to have some success with HCQ found in Plaquenil seemingly being even more helpful than Chloroquine with most common and famous brand name – Aralen.

What Are The Side Effects of Taking Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine)? | Plaquenil Side Effects & Toxicity

This medication does offer side effects and unless you would use it properly, the side effects would be pretty bad and they can be serious. That’s why, is always recommended to use Plaquenil or any other drugs containing Hydroxychloroquine with big care.

Before continuing to the side effects, is very important to mention that Plaquenil is having interactions with other drugs as well as contraindications. For this reason, before using the compound, make sure that you don’t have any of the health issues listed below and you don’t take any products listed below.

Since Hydroxychloroquine oral tablet may interact with other medications, vitamins or herbs that you are using, it may prevent the drug from working as it should or it can even be harmful. Here are some examples of such drugs:

• Heart drugs like Digoxin;
• Insulin and other diabetes drugs like repaglinide, chlorpropamide, glipizide, glimepiride and glyburide are only some examples;
• Drugs affecting heart rhythm such as clarithromycin, amiodarone or chloropromazine as examples;
• Immunosuppressant drugs like cyclosporine or methotrexate;
• Antiseizure drugs like for example carbamazepine or phenytoin
• Some malaria drugs like for example mefloquine.

Except for interactions, as mentioned, there are various contraindications. That’s why, you should be warned against using hydroxychloroquine or talking with your doctor if you have or ever had:

• Allergies;
• Vision or hearing issues;
• Heart issues;
• Blood issues;
• Seizures;

And there are various other things that should be mentioned. In the end, Hydroxychloroquine does offer side effects which you can expect such as:

Common and less serious side effects:

• Headache;
• Vomiting;
• Stomach cramps;
• Dizziness;
• Diarrhea

And there may be a few others. Usually, these are the most common side effects that are mild and they go away in a few days.

But there are also serious side effects which are less common:

• Allergies;
• Vision impairments or vision issues or vision loss;
• Abnormal mood changes;
• Muscle weakness;
• Angioedema;
• Hair loss;
• Sore throat;
• Bronchospasms which can be mild or severe;
• Unusual bleeding or bruising

Is important to know that these are not all the possible side effects. If you notice any side effects is always a good idea to consult your doctor. It has been mentioned that children seem to be especially vulnerable at developing negative side effects from using hydroxychloroquine.

Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine) Dosage & Administration

Hydroxychloroquine or better known as brand name Plaquenil is coming in form of tablets which are taken orally by mouth with a full glass of water. Tablets are most often coming as 200 mg hydrochloroquine sulfate but there are other strength available.

Take the tablets exactly as being mentioned by your doctor because you may require various dosages depending on a number of factors such as your age; the condition that is being treated and how severe that condition is; what other medical conditions you have as well as how you are reacting to your first dosage would be the most important factors.

But when talking about dosage of Hydroxychloroquine for Malaria for adult people the dosage is usually 800 mg for starting when having an acute attack, then as said by the doctor. For prevention – 400 mg once a week taken 2 weeks before exposure to malaria taken on a say day each week and then continue using it for 4 weeks after leaving the malaria area.

Adult dosages of Plaquenil for Lupus is usually 200 mg up to 400 mg a day in once or twice administration. For Rheumatoid arthritis would be 400-600 mg a day in one or 2 doses a day. But then again – your doctor may change the dosing protocol so you should use the recommended doctor’s dose.

The dosage of Plaquenil containing Hydroxychloroquine for novel Coronavirus hasn’t yet been established. We can assume that the dosage is also highly dependable on a number of factors such as how bad is the COVID-19 condition, your age, how reacting to the product and other factors.

Where to Buy Hydroxychloroquine? | Buy Plaquenil For Sale

You can buy Plaquenil for sale from the recommended sources you can find on the website. You may notice that some sources are offering hydroxychloroquine but not as Plaquenil. That’s still the same compound and is no different from Plaquenil. As mentioned – those are generics and generics are usually the exact same as brands since they contain same active substance (Hydroxychloroquine in our case) but offered for a cheaper price.

With all the disaster that new corona virus has made all around the globe, we really hope that president Donald Trump and Tesla CEO – Elon Musk are right when saying that Hydroxychloroquine and generic Plaquenil is a “game changer” and treatment for the serious COVID-19.

https://www.france24.com/en/20200320-will-an-old-malaria-drug-help-fight-the-coronavirus

https://www.businessinsider.com/chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-shortage-coronavirus-treatment-lupus-arthritis-2020-3

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/19/trump-calls-anti-malarial-drug-game-changer-coronavirus-fda-says-it-needs-study/

https://www.lupus.org/news/coronavirus-update-access-to-hydroxychloroquine-plaquenil-for-people-with-lupus

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/chloroquine-malaria-drug-treat-coronavirus-doctors/story?id=69664561

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxychloroquine#COVID-19