Discussion: A group of doctors hold a summit in Washington D.C. called White Coat Summit to apparently promote hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

[Mary Wilson]

Trump has a distant financial link to a pharma giant that makes the drug he's been pushing to fight COVID-19 — but it's probably worth less than $1,000

Rosie Perper

Apr 7, 2020, 6:06 AM

President Donald Trump reportedly has a "small personal financial interest" in a drugmaker that produces hydroxychloroquine, a drug he has been enthusiastically toutingas a possible treatment for the new coronavirus, according to a Monday New York Times report.

"As of last year, Mr. Trump reported that his three family trusts each had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi," The Times wrote. Sanofi is a French drugmaker that produces hydroxychloroquine pills under the brand name Plaquenil.

A mutual fund is a portfolio that pools together money from several investors and then invests across various asset classes such as stocks, bonds and other forms of debt.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tru...roxychloroquine-coronavirus-drug-maker-2020-4

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My personal opinion:

Perhaps a "visible trail" investment last year, when China was doing clinical trials and studies on hydroxychloroquine.
But no one will have access to personal financial gains in this promotional campaign.

Donald Trump Jr's twitter account was also promoting Hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19.

 

[Mary Wilson]

I removed this comment because I posted the article. Thanks for understanding

 

[sharon sanders]

Hydroxychloroquine is a generic drug. There is no huge $$$ to be made from this drug. Drugs.com says it cost $37 USD to buy a bottle of 100 tablets (200 mg).

 

[Mary Wilson]

I found partial transcripts here:
America’s Frontline Doctors SCOTUS Press Conference Transcript
Jul 27, 2020
A group of American doctors calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” held a press conference on COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine, and more outside the Supreme Court of the United States. Read the transcript of their press conference here.
Warning: This press conference has been flagged & taken down by multiple social media platforms for containing “misleading” or “false” information. Rev does not condone the use of any COVID-19 treatments outlined in this press conference.
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/americas-frontline-doctors-scotus-press-conference-transcript

 

[Mary Wilson]

Hydroxychloroquine: Why a video promoted by Trump was pulled on social media

By Christopher Giles, Shayan Sardarizadeh and Jack GoodmanBBC Reality Check and BBC Monitoring

4 hours ago

In the video, members of the group America's Frontline Doctors promote it both as a preventative measure and as a cure for Covid-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) say "there is currently no proof" that hydroxychloroquine is effective as a treatment or prevents coronavirus.

The video was broadcast online by right-wing online platform Breitbart, viewed over 17 million times on Facebook. It was also shared on Twitter by Donald Trump and many of his supporters.

The president's son, Donald Jnr, was suspended from tweeting for 12 hours by Twitter after he posted it on his account.

What does the video claim?

The video, a 45-minute livestream of the first day of a "White Coat" summit by the group, was posted to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by Breitbart and quickly went viral.

"The virus has a cure, it's called hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax," says one of the doctors in the video.
"You don't need masks. There is a cure. I know they don't want to open schools. No, you don't need people to be locked down. There is prevention and there is a cure."

https://www.bbc.com/news/53559938

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Another of the Doctors from the video -

Meet Trump's new favorite doctor, Dr Stella Immanuel, a homophobic preacher who uses 'alien DNA' as a medical treatment, blames witchcraft for illness and wrongly says hydroxychloroquine can cure Covid 19

• On Monday Trump retweeted a clip of Immanuel claiming to have cured COVID
• Immanuel promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine, a treatment not advised
• The video was removed by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for false information
• It now emerges Immanuel is an usual figure, serving as a preacher and medic
• Registered in Houston, she warns of alien DNA, witchcraft and the Illuminati

By HARRIET ALEXANDER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 14:15 EDT, 28 July 2020 | UPDATED: 18:03 EDT, 28 July 2020
...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...obic-doctor-preacher-uses-alien-DNA-cure.html

 

[Mary Wilson]

I would be interested to know what is going on behind the curtain, now that everyone is distracted.

 

[alert]

I am completely horrified by these developments.

This isn't about science. This isn't about whether hydroxychloroquine (or even remdesivir) is effective for treating COVID-19. If you wanted to test those theories, run a study and publish it in a peer reviewed journal. To me, it's still not clear whether any drugs mentioned in this thread are effective. If I was ill and my doctor recommended any of those, I would take it. If my doctor told me not to, I wouldn't. Spreading videos on social media is not the scientific way of doing things.

This is pure political mess, of the worst kind. The President of the United States made a rash decision several months ago to endorse hydroxychloroquine for reasons that aren't fully clear to me. It was clearly in his political benefit to promote a "cure", and I believe that hydroxychloroquine is about two orders of magnitude cheaper than, say, remdesivir, so everything else being equal, he took that shot. At least, unlike politicians elsewhere in the world who have promoted false cures for other diseases (HIV cures promoted by some African politicians come rapidly to mind), hydroxychloroquine is at least relatively safe, being FDA approved for other causes.

Once Trump took that gamble, his supporters had to defend it, and his opponents had to attack it. It wasn't about whether the drugs were effective, it was about whether the President is right or wrong, science be ignored. FluTrackers is non-political and goes out of its way to remain neutral. I personally believe that there is severe risk to the lives of many Americans due to the potential for political disruption. The election is three months away at this point, and I have deep fear, not that the "wrong" person will win, but that the process will fail, resulting in disruption and violence.

 

[sharon sanders]

I agree.

 

[Emily]

Trump has a distant financial link to a pharma giant that makes the drug he's been pushing to fight COVID-19 — but it's probably worth less than $1,000

Rosie Perper

Apr 7, 2020, 6:06 AM

President Donald Trump reportedly has a "small personal financial interest" in a drugmaker that produces hydroxychloroquine, a drug he has been enthusiastically toutingas a possible treatment for the new coronavirus, according to a Monday New York Times report.

"As of last year, Mr. Trump reported that his three family trusts each had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi," The Times wrote. Sanofi is a French drugmaker that produces hydroxychloroquine pills under the brand name Plaquenil.

A mutual fund is a portfolio that pools together money from several investors and then invests across various asset classes such as stocks, bonds and other forms of debt.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tru...roxychloroquine-coronavirus-drug-maker-2020-4

____________________________________________________________________________________________

My personal opinion:

Perhaps a "visible trail" investment last year, when China was doing clinical trials and studies on hydroxychloroquine.
But no one will have access to personal financial gains in this promotional campaign.

Donald Trump Jr's twitter account was also promoting Hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19.

Even Snopes, which I think leans liberal, doesn't see a conspiracy there, Mary.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-profit-hydroxychloroquine/

But back in the day NYT, a decidedly liberal publication seriously questioned some of Obama's biotech ties.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/us/politics/07obama.html

Even so, the stock purchases raise questions about how he could unwittingly come to invest in two relatively obscure companies, whose backers happen to include generous contributors to his political committees. Among those donors was Jared Abbruzzese, a New York businessman now at the center of an F.B.I. inquiry into public corruption in Albany, who had also contributed to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that sought to undermine John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004.

Mr. Obama, who declined to be interviewed about the stock deals, has already had to contend with a controversy that arose out of his reliance on a major campaign contributor in Chicago to help him in a personal financial transaction. In that earlier case, he acknowledged last year that it had been a mistake to involve the contributor, a developer who has since been indicted in an unrelated political scandal, in deals related to the Obamas’ purchase of a home.

Of course, no wrongdoing was proven.

 

[Emily]

The process failed decades ago and the disruption and violence are already here. We are closing on a house in what we hope will be a safer and more affordable location. Did the whole process virtually. We are just hoping the state doesn't close the dumps and thrift stores down again. Should be interesting moving long distance in a pandemic.

 

[Emily]

Op-ed by Harvey A. Risch, MD, PhD , Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health: https://www.newsweek.com/key-defeat...exists-we-need-start-using-it-opinion-1519535


Cuba: Early hydroxychloroquine potent against COVID-19: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/cuba-early-hydroxychloroquine-potent-against-covid-19/1905650

The article from Cuba is really interesting. They cover some other treatments in addition to HCQ. I think the new British treatment I posted about in the treatment thread is promising, too. Those researchers had their trials ready to go before the pandemic even hit the UK. They saw it coming and believed their product could help.

 

[Pathfinder]

Statement from the Press Secretary Regarding the Implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship


INFRASTRUCTURE & TECHNOLOGY



Issued on: July 29, 2020

---

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SHARE: ALL NEWS
On Monday, the Department of Commerce, as directed by President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, filed a petition to clarify the scope of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. The petition requests that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) clarify that Section 230 does not permit social media companies that alter or editorialize users’ speech to escape civil liability. The petition also requests that the FCC clarify when an online platform curates content in “good faith,” and requests transparency requirements on their moderation practices, similar to requirements imposed on broadband service providers under Title I of the Communications Act. President Trump will continue to fight back against unfair, un-American, and politically biased censorship of Americans online.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings...ne-censorship/

 

[Ronan Kelly]

How Quack Doctors And Powerful GOP Operatives Spread Misinformation To Millions
HuffPost
Nick Robins-Early, Hayley Miller, Jesselyn Cook
HuffPostJuly 28, 2020
....
But in fact, a conservative dark-money group was behind the press event that created this viral propaganda moment. The group featured in the video, “America’s Frontline Doctors,” sprang from nowhere only days ago and appears connected to groups involved in the Save Our Country Coalition, which was a driving force behind the “reopen” protests in April that lobbied for America’s rapid reopening, even as death tolls spike in hot spots across the country.
...
Monday’s livestreamed event featuring the America’s Frontline Doctors group was organized by Tea Party Patriots, a wealthy Republican donor-backed nonprofit that, in partnership with FreedomWorks and other right-wing dark money groups, launched the Save Our Country Coalition in April to push for America’s rapid reopening. Jenny Beth Martin, TPP’s co-founder, spoke at the conference alongside the self-proclaimed frontline doctors, urging people to call their elected officials to demand access to hydroxychloroquine.
...
The coalition’s groups have largely been funded by prominent billionaires, including oil and gas mogul Charles Koch ― who has donated to SOC group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ― and Richard Uihlein, a major donor to Tea Party Patriots. Uihlein also backed Roy Moore during his Senate run in Alabama even after he was accused of sexually assaulting underage girls.
...
A cycle of right-wing actors spreading misinformation, then playing the role of free speech martyr, was in full effect on Tuesday morning, as multiple pro-Trump media outlets and activists promoted the video’s claims and condemned its removal. Far-right One America News Network pundits, right-wing website PragerU, prominent conservative radio host Mark Levin, Trump endorsers Diamond and Silk, Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell and other conservative influencers all tweeted about the video. At least 10 Republican congressional candidates and local GOP Facebook pages also shared it, according to an analysis by First Draft, an organization that monitors misinformation.
...
https://www.facebook.com/

It's a stunt. If the president wants to order a scientific investigation of hydroxychloroquine, he has all the power in the world to do so. Anything else is just politics.

 

[sharon sanders]

I think nothing more is to be gained by this thread.

I would say that for every "Powerful GOP Operatives" there are Powerful Democrat Operatives. If we are going to post every media story on each side about this debate it will take over the site.

The politics in this country is vicious and is rampant with character assassination. As the article above shows it is not enough to argue on the merits of the debate, everyone and everything associated is dragged through the mud.

Gone is any objective reporting anymore in the United States. We are in a sad state of affairs.

FluTrackers is one of the only places where news can just be news.


Please - no more posting on this thread.


To all of our viewers, thank you. Please - if you have any questions about hydroxychloroquine - contact your medical practitioner.

Always use at least two sources for your information and use your common sense.

 

[sharon sanders]

As a side note - Main stream media, NBC, played portions of the videos as part of their report on the event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNxcSOdlvHQ