Hydroxychloroquine Pharmacology

Real Life Pharmacology - Pharmacology Education for Health Care Professionals

Eric Christianson, PharmD; Pharmacology Expert and Clinical Pharmacist

Education, Health & Fitness, Medicine

5 • 716 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2020

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hydroxychloroquine is classified as a DMARD and when used chronically, can be helpful in managing rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus.

There have been reports of QTc prolongation with hydroxychloroquine. While not incredibly common, it is important to remember this consideration in patients at risk for QTc prolongation.

Hydroxychloroquine is associated with causing retinopathy. Routine eye exams for monitoring purposes are critical.

Rarely, hydroxychloroquine can be associated with blood disorders like neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. In addition, alterations in liver function have been reported.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey all, welcome back to the real-life pharmacology podcast. This is a bit of a crazy time with everything
0:07.2	going on with COVID. We are in late March here as I'm creating this podcast. And of course, it was an
0:18.8	opportunistic time to cover the drug hydroxychloroquine.
0:24.1	So I'm certainly going to do that.
0:26.3	First, I want to remind you, definitely go leave us a rating review on iTunes if you enjoy the podcast today.
0:33.2	Also go back, check our previous episodes.
0:35.9	And you can also sign up for a free 31-page PDF
0:41.7	on the top 200 drugs. Great little study guide for pharmacists, pharmacy students, med students,
0:48.7	folks who have to take pharmacology classes. So go check out those resources at real-life pharmacology.com.
0:56.8	So getting into the drug today, hydroxychloroquine brand name is Plaquinell.
1:04.9	This is a drug that has been around for a long time. In my practice, again, I focus primarily in geriatrics.
1:15.7	I have definitely seen this medication used primarily for rheumatoid arthritis on a chronic
1:24.1	long-term basis.
1:26.1	It's the most common indication I've definitely seen this used for.
1:31.3	It does have anti-malarial activity. I believe that's what it was originally designed for, was for that.
1:38.9	And then I think it was found subsequently to help out in rheumatoid arthritis.
1:53.8	It also, probably the major indication I've seen it used for other than RA on a chronic basis is lupus as well.
1:55.1	So those are the big two that I have seen in my practice.
2:00.6	Now, thinking about this medication and the mechanism of action,
2:06.0	it isn't completely understood how this drug works,
2:13.1	but we do know that it's got some immune system modulating effects
2:20.1	and the way it interferes with the antibody, antigen type reactions.
	...

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