Trump admired Modi for selling Anti-malaria drug and denied investing in Hydroxychloroquine

Listen to this article

US President Donald Trump has rejected claim for having any investments in the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. It is noteworthy that he has consistently presented the drug as reliable treatment for coronavirus patients. He was asked when he was leaving his latest coronavirus briefing whether he has any financial interest in the drug. President Trump replied, “No I don’t. Good question”. A less toxic derivative of chloroquine drug has yet to be fully approved by the FDA for use with Covid-19 patients. Point to be noted that its use has been permitted under a so-called, emergency use authorization. Moreover, clearance has proved controversial with reported shortages of the drug affecting patients with conditions like lupus who take the drug on a regular, approved basis.

Some doctors and drug experts forcefully rejected Trump’s persistent enthusiasm for both chloroquine and hydroxychloroqine, during the last quarter of March 2020. Trump denied having a stake in its production and sale at the same briefing. US vice president Mike Pence and top doctor Anthony Fauci explained that the drug is being trialed along with other medications to see if it can be approved as a Covid-19 treatment. Dr. Fauci said, “There are a number of different clinical trials”. He emphasized that trailing a drug is the optimal way to determine ultimately if something is safe and effective and works.

Fauci was speaking with Sean Hannity of Fox News at the same day he rejected profiting from the drug. Trump talked up his own efforts to provide hydroxychloroquine to people in the United States. Trump said, “By the way, the hydroxychloroquine, we have millions of doses that I bought. I bought millions of doses. You know, for the country. I bought millions of doses of it, more than 29 million. I spoke to Prime Minister Modi, a lot of it comes out of India. I asked him if he would release it. He was great. He was really good”. He also admired the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for selling drug to the United States.