WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and members of his administration are growing emphatic in promoting an anti-malaria drug not yet officially approved for fighting COVID-19, even though scientists say more testing is needed before it’s proven safe and effective against the virus.
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro promoted the drug, hydroxychloroquine, in television interviews Monday, a day after Trump publicly put his faith in the medication to lessen the toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
“What do I know, I’m not a doctor,” Trump said Sunday. “But I have common sense.”
Trump is pushing the unproven treatment at a time when he’s grasping for ways to sound hopeful as the death toll mounts and the U.S. braces for the worst weeks yet. The virus has killed more than 10,000 in the U.S., and measures meant to contain its spread have taken a painful economic toll and all but frozen life in large swaths of the country. But medical experts warn that it’s dangerous to be hawking unproven remedies, and even his own experts have cautioned against it.
The American Medical Association’s president, Dr. Patrice Harris, said she personally would not prescribe the drug for a coronavirus patient, saying the risks of severe side-effects “is great and too significant to downplay” without large studies showing the drug is safe and effective.
The administration’s backing of the drug comes after a heated Situation Room meeting of the White House’s coronavirus task force on Saturday, in which Navarro challenged the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, over his concerns about recommending the drug based only on unscientific anecdotal evidence.
Navarro, who has no formal medical training, erupted at Fauci, raising his voice and claiming the reports of studies he collected were enough to recommend the drug widely, according to a person familiar with the exchange who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the blow-up.
Fauci has repeatedly said current studies provide only anecdotal findings that the drug works. Navarro told CNN on Monday: “I would have two words for you: ‘second opinion.'”
Hydroxychloroquine is officially approved for treating malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, but not COVID-19. Small, preliminary studies have suggested it might help prevent the new coronavirus from entering cells and possibly help patients clear the virus sooner. But those have shown mixed results.
Doctors are already prescribing the malaria drug to patients with COVID-19, a practice known as off-label prescribing. Research studies are now beginning to test if the drugs truly help COVID-19 patients, and the Food and Drug Administration has allowed the medication into the national stockpile as an option for doctors to consider for patients who cannot get into one of the studies.
But the drug has major potential side effects, especially for the heart, and Fauci has said more testing is needed before it’s clear that the drug works against the virus and is safe for use.
Navarro told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that doctors in New York hospitals are already distributing the drug to COVID-19 patients and that health care workers are taking it in hopes of being protected from infection. Though he acknowledged the debate with Fauci, he said the focus was on whether the administration should send 29 million doses of the drug in Federal Emergency Management Agency warehouses to hard-hit cities.
“The media is trying to blow it up as a big big debate, but I can tell you that within the room the decision was a sound one, and it was unanimous,” Navarro said.
Asked about his credentials for pushing the drug, Navarro cited his doctorate in social science and said that “in the fog of war, we might take more risks than we otherwise would.” He said the drug had a “track record” over many years in treating malaria.
“If it saves lives, that’s a beautiful thing … I think history will judge who’s right on this debate,” Navarro said. “I’d bet on President Trump’s intuition on this one.”
Administration officials say Trump’s embrace of the drug stems from his desire to provide “hope” for the American people as the death toll mounts and he looks to avoid political consequences from the outbreak.
Some limited studies have been conducted on the use of hydroxychloroquine and antibiotic azithromycin in concert to treat COVID-19, but they have not included critical control groups that scientists use to validate the conclusions.
Researchers in China, for instance, reported that cough, pneumonia and fever seemed to improve sooner among 31 patients given hydroxychloroquine compared with 31 others who did not get the drug, but fewer people in the comparison group had cough or fevers to start with.
At least one other world leader has also promoted the drugs.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, saying he’s heard reports of 100% effectiveness when administered in the correct dosages. He’s also zeroed tariffs for import of the drugs and has announced ramped-up chloroquine production.
On Sunday, he shared a video on social media of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani interviewing a doctor who claimed he has successfully treated hundreds of coronavirus patients with the drugs.
Fringe news sites, pro-Trump social media users and pundits have pushed hydroxychloroquine as a miracle drug for weeks. Social media platforms have taken down references from conservative personalities and politicians who claim hydroxychloroquine is an infallible method for treating COVID-19 patients.
Across Europe, there has also been a recent spike in demand for the drugs even as regulators caution against their unlicensed use.
Last week, the European Medicines Agency warned doctors that since there is no proof yet of the drugs’ effectiveness, they should be used only in clinical trials or under emergency use provisions. Some European governments say doctors’ use of the drugs for the virus should be limited to patients with serious illness.
The jump in demand for the drugs has meant in some instances that patients who rely on hydroxychloroquine for lupus or other conditions are seeing their supplies diverted for COVID-19.
In Rome, Dr. Fabrizio Conti said he has started instructing his lupus patients to lower their normal dose of hydroxychloroquine so they can stretch out their supplies.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
AP writers Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee, Maria Cheng in London, Amanda Seitz in Chicago and David Biller in Rio de Janeiro contributed.
