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riversedge

(70,270 posts) Thu Apr 23, 2020, 06:46 PM Apr 2020

Trump team wanted 'nationwide' access to malaria drugs, ousted vaccine chief claims

Source: POLITICO

Dr. Rick Bright says administration’s position would have offered little physician oversight for unproven Covid-19 treatments.

By DAN DIAMOND 04/23/2020 04:58 PM EDT

The Trump administration pushed for nationwide access to a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a Covid-19 treatment “with limited physician oversight,” according to a person familiar with the allegations of Dr. Rick Bright, the HHS vaccine chief who was ousted from his position earlier this week.

Bright felt such a move was dangerous and responded by pushing for more clinical trials, the person said, but, under pressure from his superiors in the health department, eventually agreed to sign off on an emergency use authorization that allowed the Trump administration to acquire tens of millions of doses of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and distribute the medicines to some patients hospitalized for Covid-19.

Bright, who was pushed out this week as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, is now alleging that he was sidelined after pushing back against the administration's demands.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to request for comment. POLITICO reported last month that career health officials had concerns about how Trump’s fixation on malaria drugs was undermining the nation’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak and that the White House was pressuring career health officials to prioritize the drug despite scant evidence. The drug was also championed by Trump allies like Oracle founder Larry Ellison and an array of Fox News contributors.

Bright’s lawyers on Thursday said that they would soon file a whistleblower complaint with the HHS inspector general and decried what they said were Trump administration efforts to undercut Bright’s credibility...................

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Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/23/trump-vaccine-malaria-bright-coronavirus-205414?cid=covid_m

Link to tweet

?s=20

18 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Trump team wanted 'nationwide' access to malaria drugs, ousted vaccine chief claims (Original Post) riversedge Apr 2020 OP

What Evil Purpose is Behind all This? montanacowboy Apr 2020 #1

He thought he could corner the market.. ananda Apr 2020 #2

he's helping out a few friends. stillcool Apr 2020 #12

follow the money ragemage Apr 2020 #3

God, I hope someone, sometime will before November. mpcamb Apr 2020 #7

I bet they've recently become heavily invested in .... paleotn Apr 2020 #11

The Mengele school of epidemiology Thomas Hurt Apr 2020 #4

This is just weird and creepy beyond all belief bucolic_frolic Apr 2020 #5

Hold the press! Trump discussed disinfectant injections and internal UV lights to kill the virus bucolic_frolic Apr 2020 #6

Paging Dr. Mengele. dhol82 Apr 2020 #8

Insult to the good Dr. He was evil but not stupid. paleotn Apr 2020 #10

What the everloving FFF@@@!!! Chemisse Apr 2020 #15

It's an idea a child might have at the stage of "how does the world work?" /nt bucolic_frolic Apr 2020 #17

Indeed. A child not yet restricted by the bounds of common sense and logic. n/t Chemisse Apr 2020 #18

Nationwide access... paleotn Apr 2020 #9

Novartis malaria drug.? backtoblue Apr 2020 #13

Yes, and there is a French company, gab13by13 Apr 2020 #14

Him pushing hydro-Q because he had $ invested, is for this shitshow, very OLD NEWS? Brainfodder Apr 2020 #16

montanacowboy

(6,098 posts)

1. What Evil Purpose is Behind all This?

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 06:51 PM

Apr 2020

what the hell is the motivation for Dump to promote this drug? What is behind all this? Someone needs to to some real digging and discover the purpose - it has to be something so evil plus prosperous that I don't know if we can imagine it.

ananda

(28,873 posts)

2. He thought he could corner the market..

Reply to montanacowboy (Reply #1)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 06:54 PM

Apr 2020

.. and make a killing.

But it didn't quite work out.

Although, it did deprive people of the drug,
people who did not have cv and actually
needed it... and I guess it still does.

stillcool

(32,626 posts)

12. he's helping out a few friends.

Reply to montanacowboy (Reply #1)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 08:45 PM

Apr 2020

Republican Billionaire’s Group Pushes Unproven COVID-19 Treatment Trump Promoted
A nonprofit started by the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot says plants are ready to produce the drug but for “red tape.” Experts caution it’s unproven and possibly dangerous.

by Jake Pearson March 26,
A conservative business group founded by a prolific Republican political donor is pressuring the White House to greenlight an unproven COVID-19 treatment, saying in an online petition that the country has plants in the U.S. ready to produce a drug but can’t because of “red tape, regulation, and a dysfunctional healthcare supply chain.”

In recent days, Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus’ Job Creators Network has placed Facebook ads and texted supporters to sign a petition urging President Donald Trump to “CUT RED TAPE” and make an anti-malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine available for treating those sickened with the virus, one such message obtained by ProPublica reads.

https://www.propublica.org/article/republican-billionaire-group-pushes-unproven-covid-19-treatment-trump-promoted

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-malaria-drug.html
Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community
By Peter Baker, Katie Rogers, David Enrich and Maggie Haberman
April 6, 2020

Mr. Trump first expressed interest in hydroxychloroquine a few weeks ago, telling associates that Mr. Ellison, a billionaire and a founder of Oracle, had discussed it with him. At the time, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the host of television’s “The Doctor Oz Show,” was in touch with Mr. Trump’s advisers about expediting approval to use the drug for the coronavirus.

Mr. Giuliani has urged Mr. Trump to embrace the drug, based in part on the advice of Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, a self-described simple country doctor who has become a hit on conservative media after administering a cocktail of hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotic azithromycin and zinc sulfate.

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Giuliani denied any financial stake and said he spoke with Mr. Trump only after the president had already promoted the drug publicly. Mr. Giuliani said he turned to the issue after researching former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in Ukraine, a project that led to the president’s impeachment.

Mr. Giuliani said he brought a prosecutor’s experience to his research. “One of the things that a good litigator becomes, is you kind of become an instant expert on stuff, and then you forget about it,” he said. “I don’t claim to be a doctor. I just repeat what they said.”
------------------------------------------
Some associates of Mr. Trump’s have financial interests in the issue. Sanofi’s largest shareholders include Fisher Asset Management, the investment company run by Ken Fisher, a major donor to Republicans, including Mr. Trump. A spokesman for Mr. Fisher declined to comment.

ragemage

(104 posts)

3. follow the money

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 06:56 PM

Apr 2020

Everything this orange maniac does is related to money somehow, someway. He is getting a kickback to some shell company for the production of this drug and the markups sold to hospitals and doctors. Maybe even a nice insurance scam.
FOLLOW THE MONEY

mpcamb

(2,872 posts)

7. God, I hope someone, sometime will before November.

Reply to ragemage (Reply #3)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 07:25 PM

Apr 2020

This and his pass though account that moved $55M and Jerod's call then PPE funds and supplies "ours" ought to light up lights, bells and whistles, fer god's sakes!

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

It's all that pig cares about!

paleotn

(17,938 posts)

11. I bet they've recently become heavily invested in ....

Reply to ragemage (Reply #3)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 08:32 PM

Apr 2020

the companies that make the drug and it's precursors. Well, that investment isn't going to pay off unless we have a global pandemic of malaria, and I'm not talking the first pole dancer.

Thomas Hurt

(13,903 posts)

4. The Mengele school of epidemiology

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 06:56 PM

Apr 2020

Force the docs to give untested drugs....smart move there.

bucolic_frolic

(43,249 posts)

5. This is just weird and creepy beyond all belief

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 07:07 PM

Apr 2020

Naziesque drug administration. Still wonder if it's a black market on PPE and meds, for profit.

bucolic_frolic

(43,249 posts)

6. Hold the press! Trump discussed disinfectant injections and internal UV lights to kill the virus

Reply to riversedge (Original post)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 07:20 PM

Apr 2020

Oh man, they ain't getting me. This man is going off the deepest of ends now. This is stand your ground territory

Link to tweet

Sarah Reese Jones
@PoliticusSarah
Trump asks if he can inject people with disinfectant to get rid of coronavirus.

dhol82

(9,353 posts)

8. Paging Dr. Mengele.

Reply to bucolic_frolic (Reply #6)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 08:01 PM

Apr 2020

Jeebus!

paleotn

(17,938 posts)

10. Insult to the good Dr. He was evil but not stupid.

Reply to dhol82 (Reply #8)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 08:29 PM

Apr 2020

These people are out of their fucking minds.

Chemisse

(30,814 posts)

15. What the everloving FFF@@@!!!

Reply to bucolic_frolic (Reply #6)

Thu Apr 23, 2020, 11:36 PM

Apr 2020

He has not the slightest clue of the most basic concepts. I just can't believe the stupidity of this man.

I can't believe these scientists have to humor him by saying they will do studies on these ideas!