Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Reports Reveal Trump-Era Pressure On FDA Over Hydroxychloroquine
The Trump White House coordinated a pressure campaign for the FDA to authorize the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19 after it was shown to be ineffective and potentially dangerous, a new House investigative report charges. (Bettelheim, 8/24)
The Democrats’ investigation also documents potential influence from former White House officials regarding the FDA’s decision to authorize convalescent plasma, and White House attempts to block the FDA from collecting additional safety data on Covid-19 vaccines in order to get them to the public before the 2020 presidential election. (Foley, 8/24)
The report Wednesday by the Democratic-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis also sheds new light on the role that television personalities played in bringing hydroxychloroquine to the attention of top White House officials. Investigators highlighted an email from Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and others from Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon who had a daytime TV show and is now the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania. Ingraham attended an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, who himself took the anti-malaria drug. (Perrone and Freking, 8/24)
The report revealed that former White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro, who is not a medical doctor, and Steven Hatfill, an adjunct assistant professor at George Washington University whom Navarro brought to the White House in January 2020 as a volunteer on Covid-19 research, were fighting with FDA officials including Hahn on the effects and effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine -- which has since been found to not work against Covid-19 and potentially cause heart problems and even a greater risk of death -- and other drugs throughout the height of the pandemic. (Diaz and Christensen, 8/24)
Trump administration advisers leaned on Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson in a failed effort to push top health officials to reauthorize the use of an anti-malaria drug as a treatment for COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic, according to a new congressional committee report. (Andrea, 8/24)
