Simulation of Risk of Adverse Drug Events Associated With the Initiation of Drugs Repurposed for the Treatment of COVID-19 in Adults With Polypharmacy Using Data From Large Medicare and Commercially Insured Populations

Certain investigational agents have been described in observational series or are being used anecdotally based on in vitro or extrapolated evidence. It is important to acknowledge that there are no controlled data supporting the use of any of these agents, and their efficacy for COVID-19 is unknown. FDA-approved drugs such as chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, monoclonal IL-6 antibodies, JAK inhibitors, thalidomide, and the new investigational drug remdesivir, have been proposed for repurposing to fight COVID-19 and its complications. A medication risk stratification strategy will be used to simulate the impacts of different potential repurposed drugs for COVID-19 and the Medication Risk Score (MRS) which is used as a predictive tool for ADEs. A retrospective study will be conducted using de-identified drug claims data for commercially insured patients.