On March 24, 2020, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration sent a letter to doctors and pharmacists across Michigan banning the off-label prescription of the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat covid-19. Her administration stated its belief in this letter that there is insufficient evidence to permit the off-label prescription of these drugs to treat covid-19, threatening medical practitioners and pharmacists with legal action and “reminding” their colleagues that they have a duty to report anyone issuing such prescriptions.

This is executive overreach on the part of the governor and a violation of the rights of patients to avail themselves of this promising treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has acknowledged that the off-label use of these two drugs, especially in combination with the drug azithromycin (Z pack), is in use around the world AND in the United States with varying degrees of success (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/therapeutic-options.html). In addition, at least one clinical trial is also reporting promising results, concluding, “[...] We therefore recommend that COVID-19 patients be treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to cure their infection and to limit the transmission of the virus to other people in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the world,” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920300996?fbclid=IwAR2ofh9DMP-IBOozhWKIBXv25ePHKVKVgS-1mWlwEj0by69FMa3EOyCh9do.

Finally, this ban is a violation of the rights of patients to avail themselves of experimental medical treatments as provided under the federal Right to Try law recently signed into law.

We are calling in Gov. Whitmer to rescind this ban IMMEDIATELY.