For two months, President Trump repeatedly pitched hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective treatment for coronavirus, asking would-be patients “What the hell do you have to lose?”

Growing evidence shows that, for many, the answer is their lives.

Clinical trials, academic research and scientific analysis indicate that the danger of the Trump-backed drug is a significantly increased risk of death for certain patients. Evidence showing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating covid-19 has been scant. Those two developments pushed the Food and Drug Administration to warn against the use of hydroxychloroquine outside of a hospital setting last month, just weeks after it approved an emergency use authorization for the drug.

The latest on the pandemic and the Trump administration’s response

Alarmed by a growing cache of data linking the anti-malaria drug to serious cardiac problems, some drug safety experts are now calling for even more forceful action by the government to discourage its use. Several have called for the FDA to revoke its emergency use authorization, given hydroxychloroquine’s documented risks.

“They should say, ‘We know there are harms, and until we know the benefits, let’s hold off,’ ” said Joseph Ross, a professor of medicine and public health at Yale University, who added that the original authorization may have been warranted but new evidence has emerged about the drug’s risks.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t been revoked yet,” said Luciana Borio, who served as director for medical and biodefense preparedness of the National Security Council and was acting chief scientist at the FDA.

I wonder how many people were suckered into trying a dangerous drug by the president? I know one acquaintance who was buying anything with the word ‘quinine’ in it to ingest… We know SDAI drank the kool-aide… people that have a legitimate need for hydroxychloroquine were unable to get it due to the rush for the drug…

What the hell do you have to lose…?

Donald J. Trump Retweeted
Rogan O’Handley

@DC_Draino
Uh oh, wouldn’t want the Commies in blue states to see us Floridians all out at bars having a good time with no face masks

Might destroy their narrative that everyone’s gonna die if we don’t live in a bubble forever!