Health Dept. Doctor Says Doubts on Hydroxychloroquine Led to His Ouster

By BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR AND MAGGIE HABERMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2W46otl

WASHINGTON — The official who led the federal agency involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine said on Wednesday that he was removed from his post after he pressed for rigorous vetting of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug embraced by President Trump as a coronavirus treatment, and that the administration had put “politics and cronyism ahead of science.”

Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and removed as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response. He was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health.

In a scorching statement, Dr. Bright, who received a Ph.D. in immunology and molecular pathogenesis from Emory University, assailed the leadership at the health department, saying he was pressured to direct money toward hydroxychloroquine, one of several “potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and repeatedly described by the president as a potential “game changer” in the fight against the virus.

“I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,” he said in his statement. “I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.”

Doubts about the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus and the lack of evidence about the drug’s effectiveness — including some small studies that indicated patients could be harmed — appear to have dampened Mr. Trump’s enthusiasm for it.

As the seriousness of the pandemic became clearer in mid-March, the president seized on anecdotal reports about victims of the coronavirus who recovered quickly after using the drug. Desperate for good news as he watched the death toll climb and the stock market plummet, Mr. Trump could hardly contain his excitement.

In a post on Twitter on March 21, the president urged federal officials to quickly approve the use of hydroxychloroquine with an antibiotic called azithromycin — a combination that he believed could work on the coronavirus.

“Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents) be put in use IMMEDIATELY,” he tweeted. “PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE!”

By then, Mr. Trump’s favorite Fox News hosts were echoing his optimism that hydroxychloroquine could be a magic bullet against the virus. A day after meeting in the Oval Office with one of the hosts, Laura Ingraham, and two doctors promoting the drug as a cure-all, Mr. Trump became First Salesman, promoting it from the White House briefing room.

“I’ll say it again: What do you have to lose?” Mr. Trump said on April 4, carefully pronouncing hydroxychloroquine. His presidential prescription: “Take it.”

 ‘What Do You Have to Lose?’ How Trump Has Promoted Malaria Drug

President Trump has pushed a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for coronavirus patients. A recent study found that patients taking it had higher death rates compared with those who did not.

It is known as a malaria drug, and it’s been around for a long time. And it’s very powerful, but the nice part is it’s been around for a long time, so we know that if things don’t go as planned, it’s not going to kill anybody. And it’s shown very encouraging very, very encouraging early results. There’s a possibility — a possibility — and I say it: What do you have to lose? I’ll say it again, what do you have to lose? Take it. I really think they should take it. But it’s their choice, and it’s their doctor’s choice or the doctor’s and the hospital. But hydroxychloroquine, try it if you’d like. It will be, not a game changer because that’s not a nice enough term — it will be wonderful. It’ll be so beautiful. It’ll be a gift from heaven. If it works that would be great. If it doesn’t work, we know for many years — malaria, it’s incredible what it’s done for malaria. It’s incredible what it’s done for lupus. But it doesn’t kill people. But if it was somebody else other than President Trump that put it forward, if some other person put it forward that said, “Oh, let’s go with it, you know, what do you have to lose?”