AMA Statement on “Test to Treat” Does Not Align Well With Patients’ Interests

Jeffrey A. SingerDuring his State of the Union Address last week, President Biden announced a plan to make it easier for people to get access to the new antiviral drug Paxlovid. This drug, if taken during the first 3 to 5 days of a symptomatic COVID infection, is 89 percent effective in preventing the case from progressing to hospitalization or death. Under theplan, dubbed “test to treat,” people with symptoms may go to a designated pharmacy, community health center, nursing home, or supermarket, where a pharmacist can perform the test for COVID and, if it returns positive, prescribe the antiviral drug to the patient at the same time. This is a positive move.As Josh Bloom of the American Council on Science and Health and I wrote last January, when the Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization to the drug, it required patients to get a prescription for the drug from a health care practitioner once they test positive on a COVID test. It can be very difficult for patients to get the test result and the doctor appointment within the critical 3 to 5 day window after symptoms commence in order to ensure the drug will work. By allowing patients “one stop shopping” where they can get the test and the prescription from a pharmacist, the new policy works around that problem.Unfortunately, the American Medical Association (AMA) pouredcold water on the idea in a statement it released...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 7, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs