Self-medication during the Era of COVID-19; Potential Implications for
Drug Policy Makers and Pharmacovigilance

Tauqeer   Hussain   Mallhi; Yusra   Habib   Khan; Muhammad   Hammad   Butt; Muhammad      Salman

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak is marked by infodemic amid conspiracy theories, false claims, rumors, and misleading narratives, which have had a significant impact on the global campaign against COVID-19. The drug repurposing provides a hope to curb the growing encumbrance of the disease but at the same time, it poses various challenges such as selfmedication using repurposed drugs and its associated harms. During the continuing pandemic, this perspective piece explores the potential hazards of self-medication and its attributing factors along with possible countermeasures.

Keywords: COVID-19, drug repurposing, self-medication, adverse effects, conspiracy theories, safety profile.

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DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1574886317666220428133813	Print ISSN 1574-8863
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 2212-3911

Current Drug Safety

Self-medication during the Era of COVID-19; Potential Implications for Drug Policy Makers and Pharmacovigilance

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