Dr. Richard Bright says the White House applied political pressure to push experimental drugs.
he was forced out of his job this week because of his opposition to use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine that President Donald Trump has casually pushed as a possible treatment for the virus. Until Tuesday, Dr. Richard Bright was the Department of Health and Human Services’ deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response and the head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
“Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit,” Bright continued. During the intense, ongoing push to find treatments for the coronavirus, Bright said he and other health officials were pressured to invest in drugs favored by the White House rather than the ones that showed the most potential scientifically.
From the podium at the White House, Trump has speculated wildly about the potential of hydroxychloroquine when taken with the antibiotic azithromycin, and has pushed to get it approved as a coronavirus treatment. “What do you have to lose?” Trump said on multiple occasions about the drug combination. Preliminary tests have been inconclusive about the drug combo’s effectiveness, and there is new data showing it could do far more harm than good.
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