Trump Tells Americans To Take Unproven Virus Drugs

Mediaite reports:

Unofficial medical research expert and U.S. President Donald Trump hyped an unproven combination of drugs as potentially “one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine” a day after Dr. Anthony Fauci tried to tamp down expectations for experimental coronavirus treatments.

In a series of tweets Saturday morning, Trump hyped a cocktail of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment for COVID-19, despite the very preliminary stages of research into the pairing.

Trump’s tweet comes after a week in which he falsely told the public that drugs had been approved by the FDA to treat the coronavirus, then hyped the treatments at another briefing over the more measured advice of infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020

….be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE! @US_FDA @SteveFDA @CDCgov @DHSgov

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020

The combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat the coronavirus has not been proven safe and effective through large scale clinical trials. There is only anecdotal evidence from case reports in countries overseas. Promising them as miracle drugs gives false hope.

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) March 21, 2020

ADDERALL & DIET COKE, taken together, make you suggest unproven medicines during a pandemic.

— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) March 21, 2020

Face check: Combining Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin to treat coronavirus has not been proven safe and effective through large scale clinical trials

You are giving false hope to Americans

— Edward Hardy (@EdwardTHardy) March 21, 2020

As @NYGovCuomo is providing detail & excellent information, Trump is tweeting wildly about unproven drug therapy & announcing his press conference today, which, hopefully, no news organization will carry without real time fact checking.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 21, 2020

President Trump recently said the FDA had “approved” use of an anti-malaria drug to treat coronavirus patients — and that it would be available “almost immediately.”

But the FDA commissioner says “a large, pragmatic clinical trial” would be needed first. https://t.co/gIdWnvVudx

— NPR (@NPR) March 21, 2020

Please don’t take hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) plus Azithromycin for #COVID19 UNLESS your doctor prescribes it. Both drugs affect the QT interval of your heart and can lead to arrhythmias and sudden death, especially if you are taking other meds or have a heart condition.

— Dr. Edsel Salvana (@EdselSalvana) March 21, 2020

Even after being gently, but firmly, rebuked by Dr. Fauci on Friday, @realDonaldTrump doubles down in pushing a drug cocktail that is so far unproven, creating a run on medicines people need for other ailments. Is there a drug to cure habitual exaggeration and disinformation?

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 21, 2020