Oklahoma stuck with over a million hydroxychloroquine doses after Trump-hyped drug proved to be a bust

Last year, former President Donald Trump regularly hyped up hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that studies have repeatedly shown to be ineffective at treating the novel coronavirus.

Following the president's lead, many Republican governors invested big in the drug, and are now stuck with unused doses after the Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency use authorization for treating COVID patients.

One such state was Oklahoma -- and as Oklahoma Watch reports, the state has an estimated 1.2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sitting in a warehouse in an undisclosed location.

What's more, state officials are reluctant to say what it plans to do with all these unused doses, which are set to expire in December this year.

Hydroxychloroquine has several medical uses, including the treatment of malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Oklahoma Watch notes that many lupus patients in the state had trouble getting the drug last summer as patients rushed to secure supplies of it while under the false impression it would be useful for treating COVID-19.

"By rough calculations, the state's supply of 1.2 million doses of the medicine would be enough to treat more than 1,600 lupus patients for a full year," the publication writes.

Read the full report here.