Biologist accuses Trump of quackery

PERRYSCOPE
Perry Diaz

 On April 6, 2020, a renowned biologist, Dr. William Haseltine, chair and president of Access Health International, went on Fox News and slammed President Donald for promoting the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Dr. Haseltine said, “We know already from studies: at best it will have a very mild effect, at very best.”  He said the drug has been used for years against many other viruses to no effect.

“It is not something to take unless a doctor prescribes it,” he warned. “We know that at very best this drug will have a very mild effect on changing the course of the disease, if it has any effect at all. That is what the data has shown so far and I am convinced that that’s what further studies will show. And it’s not without adverse consequence. It is irresponsible to promote this drug at this time.”

The day before, Trump told the American people during his daily briefing that   they should go out and get a prescription for the drug, which he has been promoting as a “miracle cure.”  This reminds me of the snake oil salesman during the California Gold Rush who went around from town to town peddling his cure-all elixir. 

Dr. Haseltine’s accusation seems to suggest that Trump is a “quack,” one who promotes fraudulent or ignorant medical practices.  But there could be underlying reasons why he’s promoting it. 

First, Trump is badly in need of “good news” to downplay the scary and soaring statistics of COVID-19 cases and deaths.  He’s in effect telling the American people, “Cheer up!  A cure has been found!”  Indeed, that’s what he admitted he’s been doing, that is, to cheer up the people amidst the “bad news” that’s been going around.  Yes, the country’s number one cheerleader is using superlatives to describe his pronouncements – “fantastic,” “wonderful,” “terrific” and other ego-building self-praising words.  

Which makes one wonder: What’s in it for Trump that he keeps on pushing an untested and dangerously deadly drug? Why is he obsessed with peddling this anti-malaria drug?

Trump’s medicine show

 In an article, “Dr. Trump’s medicine show: Why is he pushing an unproven drug? Follow the money,” written by Bob Cesca for Salon, dated April 7, 2020, it began with an indictment: “Donald Trump only cares about Donald Trump. He doesn't care about you or the country. He only cares about exploiting this crisis to bail out his business and to get himself re-elected, thereby shielding himself from a series of indictments that surely await him if he loses. The sooner we embrace this easily observable fact about Trump, the better equipped we'll be to evaluate his decisions during these overlapping health and financial calamities.”

In promoting hydroxychloroquine, Trump told the American people during his daily briefing, “What do you have to lose?”  

“As I watched the president disintegrating into a cartoonish back-alley drug dealer from a 1980s after-school special,” Cesca said, “Two thoughts occurred to me: 1) We're completely screwed if this shell of a man is re-elected, and 2) Why is he so obsessed with selling this malaria drug?

“As I've said from the beginning, I absolutely hope I'm wrong about Trump, but so far, he's proved many of my worst concerns about his poseur presidency to be true. So, in this case, if Trump's pushing an unproven cure with this much vigor, then he's very likely benefiting financially somehow.

“Trump is always engaged in one con or another, so he's certainly wired for a scam like this. And the downturn in the economy due to the pandemic has reached the books of the Trump Organization where Eric Trump and Donald Jr. are racing around like the Skipper and Gilligan struggling to guide the USS Minnow out of that freak Pacific storm. We learned the other day that the Trumps are laying off 1,500 workers while closing 17 locations — mainly hotels and restaurants. Likewise, the Trumps are desperately begging their creditors to back off, creditors that include Deutsche Bank and Palm Beach County, to whom the Trump Organization owes a pile of money.

“So Trump's businesses are under duress like everyone else's, motivating him to grab whatever cash is nearby. Apparently there's good money in pharmaceuticals. 

“The top manufacturer of hydroxychloroquine is Novartis. Back in early 2017, soon after the inauguration, Novartis agreed to pay Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney-slash-fixer, $100,000 per month for lobbying access to the new president. The cash payouts were sent to Cohen's shell company, Essential Consultants, which was also a reputed slush fund for Trump. You might recall that the president used Essential Consultants as an intermediary for alleged hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Indeed, some of those checks were signed by Trump while in the White House.

“All told, Novartis paid Trump more than a million dollars during the year-long agreement, paid out through Cohen's dubious company. Novartis is one of the primary manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine. Two-plus-two equals ’what do you have to lose?’

“Trump is treating this drug like he's the national spokesman, paid on commission, yet to date there is no peer-reviewed evidence that hydroxychloroquine actually works against COVID-19. In fact, it could have serious side effects.  Of course it's possible that Dr. Trump's snake oil might work for some patients. We simply don't know. But there's a lot to lose for those who might experience a series of horrendous side effects — taking the wrong medication for the wrong illness has a tendency to do that. Knowing all this, it's ludicrous that the U.S. government under Trump has already invested in 29 million pills, absent any clear information that they're useful against the current plague.”

Cesca concluded his commentary as follows: “No wonder Trump wouldn’t allow Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to answer a reporter's question about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine during Sunday's Trump Show. He knew that Fauci might, at the very least, contradict Trump's drug-dealer-ish rationalizations, and, as you know, coffee's for closers.” 

So, there you go.  It’s clear that Trump – based on his penchant for cons and scams – could be profiting from the sale of hydroxychloroquine to people who are desperately in need for treatment.  There are already 29 million pills ordered by the White House.  And that’s just for starters. 

But like the snake oil salesman peddling his “miracle cure” in the back alleys, hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 victims are exposed to a more dangerous and grim future – the prospect of death.

Clinical trials for Avigan

It was announced on April 8 that three Massachusetts hospitals have received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch clinical trials for potential COVID-19 drug Avigan (generic name: favipiravir), a Japanese flu drug that could be used to treat the novel coronavirus.  The trials will take place at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Avigan causes viruses to misread genetic instructions and not reproduce correctly, “so that the virus eventually melts down in the test tube,” Dr. Robert W. Finberg, an infectious disease specialist at UMass Memorial, told reporters.

According to the report, the U.S. trials would consist of 50 to 60 patients across the three sites that are split into two groups, according to a news report. The first group would receive the drug in addition to standard care while the second group would only receive standard care. 

Chinese health officials hailed the drug as “clearly effective” when used on 340 patients in trials that showed reduced recovery time and improved lung function.

According to the news report, “The patients given the drug in the Chinese city of Shenzhen tested negative for the virus with a median of four days after becoming positive — much lower than the average of 11 days for those who were not given the medicine.”

For lack of a better word, the outlook seems promising; however, it is still months – maybe a year and a half – before a treatment is found and certified by FDA.  However, there are at least 30 experimental drugs in various stages of development right now. 

One thing for sure: what we’re seeing here is, as Dr. Fauci has said it, “There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”  It’s a glimmer of hope to the citizens of the world. 

Word of caution: Do not believe what quacks have been promoting without an iota of truth. (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)