Donald Trump has stake in company making ‘miracle’ coronavirus drug he keeps pushing.
Donald Trump reportedly has a stake in the company making a drug he has been pushing as a ‘miracle’ coronavirus treatment for days. Trump has remained persistently optimistic about the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine day after day despite experts’ warnings that the drug has yet to be proven effective as a Covid-19 treatment.
The president’s insinuations may prove to be right after doctors have given anecdotal evidence that the drug may work – and if it does, several pharmaceutical companies and their shareholders, who reportedly include Trump, may stand to benefit.
Trump has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drug manufacturer that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported. The president began pushing hydroxychloroquine weeks ago and his personal lawyer, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has reportedly been in his ear about the drug.
Giuliani has reportedly been advocating the drug after he spoke to Dr Vladimir Zelenko, who describes himself as a simple country doctor.
President Trump is asked why he âpromotesâ Hydroxychloroquine.Trump: âI want to save lives. I don’t want it to be in a lab for the next year and a half as people are dying all over the place… and only CNN would ask that question. Fake News.âpic.twitter.com/9V6fpGyAIg— Benny (@bennyjohnson) April 5, 2020 Dr. Fauci disagrees with Trump’s promotion and posture on hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. https://t.co/s8wkRMVL42Trump shuts down a reporter when he tries to ask Fauci directly. pic.twitter.com/xOhRYmadAz— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) April 6, 2020
Zelenko has since become a star in the eye of conservative media after trying to treat the virus with hydroxychloroquine, zinc sulfate and the antibiotic azithromycin. However, Giuliani denied that he has any stake in the anti-malarial drug manufacturer and claimed he only urged Trump to embrace the drug after the president began pushing it himself. Trump’s former lawyer told The Times on Monday that he began researching coronavirus treatment after investigating former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine – an issue which was at the heart of the president’s impeachment trial.
‘When I finished Biden, I immediately switched to coronavirus and I have been doing an enormous amount of research on it,’ Giuliani said, adding that his research led him to Ukrainian-born Zelenko. ‘
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.
I don’t claim to be a doctor. I just repeat what they say.’ Hydroxychloroquine has been approved for use on coronavirus patients by the US Food and Drug Administration in an emergency order last month.
Trump has said his administration would distribute 29 million doses and he added that he would be requesting more from India.
In March India banned exports of hydroxychloroquine, which is claimed to be effective in treating Covid-19On 6 April Trump said India has taken advantage of the US on trade for years.
If ban is not lifted, US may retaliate Ban lifted for US in 56 minutespic.twitter.com/jDDYookR4x— Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) April 7, 2020
However, the issue has divided his coronavirus task force after experts have warned against believing in the drug’s effectiveness too early. Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the task force, said: ‘I think we’ve got to be careful that we don’t make that majestic leap to assume this is a knockout drug.’ ‘We still need to do the kinds of studies that definitively prove whether any intervention, not just this one, any intervention is truly safe and effective.’
