A showcase for prescription medication can be seen on television daily promoting benefits, yet side effects are reserved at the end with barely audible voiceover warnings and unreadable fine print.

New drugs known as interleukin inhibitors are used for rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, eczema (skin disorder), and other immunologically based diseases. These commercials caution users that their immune system might be compromised, making one susceptible to invading organisms. Could one be COVID-19?

Certainly, pharmaceutical companies won’t provide this information to us, and in reality, they probably don’t have an answer. Some of my patients have done well on these medications – although they can be costly, likely from the TV commercial advertising budget – but could they now be more vulnerable to the coronavirus?

Studies should be undertaken.

Without these medications, some of my patients will suffer.

With them, could they die?

THIS COMMENTARY MIGHT BE A DANGER TO YOUR HEALTH.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.