Journal article
Changes in dispensing of medicines proposed for re-purposing in the first year of the COVID- 19 pandemic in Australia
AL Schaffer, D Henry, H Zoega, JH Elliott, SA Pearson
Plos One | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2022
Open access
Abstract
Background Since COVID-19 was first recognised, there has been ever-changing evidence and misinformation around effective use of medicines. Understanding how pandemics impact on medicine use can help policymakers act quickly to prevent harm. We quantified changes in dispensing of common medicines proposed for "re-purposing"due to their perceived benefits as therapeutic or preventive for COVID-19 in Australia. Methods We performed an interrupted time series analysis and cross-sectional study using nationwide dispensing claims data (January 2017-November 2020). We focused on six subsidized medicines proposed for re-purposing: hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, ivermectin, colchicine, corticoste..
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Awarded by UK Research and Innovation
Funding Acknowledgements
AS, SAP, DH and HZ are supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/) Centre of Research Excellence in Medicines Intelligence (#1196900). AS is supported by a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (#1158763). HZ is supported by a University of New South Wales Scientia Program Award(https://www.scientia.unsw.edu.au/).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.