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Hospital orders for old malaria drugs have spiked amid coronavirus pandemic

Hospitals have dramatically increased their orders for two old malaria drugs, but those orders are increasingly going unfilled.
An employee works on the production line of chloroquine phosphate, an old drug used to treat malaria.

As speculation mounted in recent weeks that a pair of old malaria drugs could combat Covid-19, hospitals across the U.S. quickly placed orders, but often could not receive as many tablets as hoped. And the trend intensified after President Trump touted the medicines, according to new data.

About 40,000 tablets of hydroxycholoroquine were ordered on Jan. 31, and

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