Trump and Fox News Are Suddenly Silent on Their "Miracle" Drug Hydroxychloroquine

[SouthernCal_Dem]

Their reckless promotion flew in the face of expert warnings.

After aggressively promoting an anti-malaria drug as a “miracle” in the fight against COVID-19—a push that flew in the face of repeated warnings from experts—President Donald Trump and Fox News personalities suddenly appear to be cooling on hydroxychloroquine just as a new study reports the drug could lead to a higher death rate.

“The fact of the matter is we don’t know,” Dr. Mehmet Oz told the hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday. “Thankfully these medications are prescriptions only… We are better off waiting for the randomized trials Dr. Fauci has been asking for.”

The segment was a head-spinning reversal for Oz, who less than a week ago encouraged Americans to participate in an at-home hydroxychloroquine clinical trial. “They mail you the pills, you start the protocol, tell them what happened… Be part of the solution,” he told Fox News viewers in a segment on April 16, the latest in Oz’s ongoing promotion of hydroxychloroquine on the conservative news network.

The attempt to strike a more cautious approach this week comes on the heels of new studies that showed hydroxychloroquine yielded no benefit in helping patients infected with the virus; one study on US veterans reported more deaths among those treated with the drug than those who received normal care.

When asked about the veterans’ study on Tuesday, Trump, perhaps the biggest hydroxychloroquine cheerleader of all, dodged.

Read more:

https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/04/trump-and-fox-news-are-suddenly-silent-on-their-miracle-drug-hydroxychloroquine/

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. but not this moron:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/492546-south-dakota-launches-clinical-trial-of-hydroxychloroquine


South Dakota has launched a clinical trial to test the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating and potentially preventing COVID-19.

Gov. Kristi Noem (R) on Monday said South Dakota is the first state to conduct a full clinical trial on hydroxychloroquine. The effort is being led by Sanford Health system, the largest rural health provider in the country.

"Our goal is to meaningfully advance the science around COVID-19 so physicians can be better prepared to respond to and treat this novel virus in the future, especially for our populations most at-risk,” Sanford Health's chief medical officer, Allison Suttle, said in a statement. “By doing clinical trials during this pandemic, we are trying to find treatments and, thereby, hope.”
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The study initially will include 2,000 outpatient individuals exposed to COVID-19, including front-line health care workers and other high-risk patients.

[SouthernCal_Dem]

2. The right wing news bubble is incredible

Even in the face of scientific evidence showing it actually causes more deaths, Republicans still promote it because Trump touted it and they saw segments on Fox News.

[scarletwoman]

3. Great. So they can kill a bunch of people just to study what's already been studied. (nt)

[Volaris]

14. 'front line healthcare workers'. Uh huh. Suuuuure.

No such thing as a 'front line' healthcare worker that's worth their own degree is gonna swallow this shit (both literally or figuratively) unless they have a condition for which you're supposed to be taking it already...and COVID AINT THAT.

Cause they're not stupid and they fucking well know better.

[Blue Owl]

4. Better Call Saul

[Tucker08087]

5. I am so angry about this.

I guess all trace of this medication is out of my system and I am suffering badly from LSE (systemic lupus). Under normal circumstances, I would be admitted to the hospital now, but I am forced to decide if I should risk my life by staying home or risk my life by getting treated. I reached the point of constant vomiting this week. I built an apartment onto my house for my mom, but I’ve been staying on my side since I’ve been sick-just in case, and she started writing down each time she could hear the sound of me vomiting through the wall. It’s not scientific, since she can’t hear me from part of the apartment, but yesterday she reported hearing it about 5 times per hour. Fever and pain, too. The scary part is that I can’t keep down other needed medications. The disease is in my brain, and I need to take medication to prevent seizures, to enable me to control my speech and balance, to keep my blood pressure level because the part of my brain that tells your heart to do what it is supposed to do on its own has been impacted. I was also getting severely dehydrated which has, in the past, caused liver and kidney issues as well as heart failure. My heart did stop once, and that incident was caused by severe dehydration from this exact same thing. My stomach no longer digests on its own, either, but I was not able to keep even fluids down, so this wasn’t a digestive issue. I was bringing up saliva. I’m hoping it’s safe to say this here, but in desperation, I turned to a friend for a “natural” remedy for nausea. I do have Zofran, but it wasn’t working. My doctor prescribed Marinol, but NJ pharmacies won’t fill it. He’s in Philadelphia. Today I was able to keep water down as well as my medication, so that’s a huge step toward recovery, but I am furious that this moron is killing CV19 patients AND lupus patients to make a buck and to pretend he knows something that he doesn’t even slightly understand. I’m furious that his supporters and the GOP are allowing this to happen. I’m furious that I see terror on my kid’s face while he sees my dripping with sweat and then shivering with cold, puking into a bathroom garbage can, conscious that I’m the only living parent he has left.
What the hell did they think was going to happen when they prescribed an immunosuppressant to treat a virus? Of COURSE it’s killing critically ill patients. What the hell did they think would happen to people like me whose immune system attacks internal organs and bodily systems (like digestive, neurological, muscular/skeletal, etc) when they confiscated an approved and proven (yet dangerous) treatment?
I’m really, really angry!
(And yes, I realize that this sounds like CV19, but having lupus is like having the flu everyday. There are other symptoms like rash and nose/mouth sores, and I have those, too. We’ve also been locked down completely for over a month.)

[Tucker08087]

6. Sorry that was so long.

I guess I needed to vent.

[sheshe2]

11. Vent as much as you need to, Tucker.

He is killing those that the drug will never work on while taking it away from those that do.

All I can do is give you a ((hug)) and hope to be rid of this anti-Christ soon.

Take care of yourself.

[rusty quoin]

13. Yeah, I hear you.

[sop]

7. Has anyone figured out yet what's in it for Trump and his cronies?

These people don't do anything unless there's money involved. The Hydroxychloroquine campaign was obviously a well-orchestrated effort, starting at the top, to convince the public this drug is a cure for the C-19 virus.

It's hard to know if it was done for profit, or was it just another one of Trump's bullshit schemes to convince Americans to not worry about becoming infected, and to not shut down the economy?

[Totally Tunsie]

8. Trump Has 'Financial Interest' in Hydroxychloroquine Manufacturer: NYT

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-reportedly-has-financial-interest-in-hydroxychloroquine-manufacturer

The Times reports the president’s family trusts all have investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding is Sanofi, the manufacturer of Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. Associates of the president, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, have also run funds that hold investments in the pharmaceutical firm.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-malaria-drug.html

If hydroxychloroquine becomes an accepted treatment, several pharmaceutical companies stand to profit, including shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president. Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.

[Grammy23]

9. Follow the money.

That is all.

[Totally Tunsie]

10. Always.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/5/1934708/-Trump-Is-Buying-Up-the-Hydroxychloroquine-Supply

President Donald Trump on Sunday once again mentioned the experimental drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus patients during the White House COVID-19 briefing on Sunday, and announced that the federal government has stockpiled 29 million pills.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Glad You Put That In Quotes

That financial interest is a small fraction of a larger fund over which the family has zero control.
I loathe PINO as much as anybody, but this isn't insider trading. It's closer to coincidence.
Besides, what makes anybody here thinks PINO knows how to make money? Other than a willingness to assume massive debt, when he has he made money equal to market performance?

[Totally Tunsie]

18. I agree the financials are a small fraction...

What worries me more is this part: "shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president." The hand of power and influence of those "connected" can be monumental. Example: Chump's unofficial, but influential, Mar-a-Loco advisory team that has his ear on Veterans' Affairs.

My former boss is one of Chump's Mar-a-Loco golf buddies with a lot of money and a lot of time. He's also a jackass, much like Chump himself, and knowing he has Chump's ear is frightening. At one time early in Chump's regime, former boss tried to pry an ambassadorship (to a major country) out of the friendship, but even Chump must have thought he was an unsuitable clod for that position.

Influence often is worth more than the money.

[sheshe2]

12. It is for profit.

Everything he does is for himself.

[rusty quoin]

15. Well doesn't it show that this is what the end of capitalism itself looks like?

I’m not saying it is it’s end, but that a more bit of socialism maybe will save capitalism.

I don’t want fascism and I don’t want communism, but I certainly don’t want everything a commodity like human life.

We need socialism more to bring us back to normal.

[sop]

16. Socialism instead of Barbarism

FDR saved capitalism from itself in the '30s. We need another New Deal.

[rusty quoin]

19. Yeah. I totally agree.