Ever since President Trump mentioned hydroxy as a possible therapeutic, the media have castigated it as worse than rat poison. They've criticized any use of it in a constant barrage of fear, telling everyone that this 60-year-old drug would kill anyone who dared tak 8-e it.
When Trump mentioned he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative, Fox News' Neil Cavuto told his audience, “I cannot stress enough. This will kill you.” Tell that to those Americans taking hydroxy to the tune of five million prescriptions written each year.
Hydroxy was FDA-approved in 1955 and is taken for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. FDA approval means the approved drug is both efficacious and safe. All of a sudden, after 60 years, the FDA decided hydroxy is no longer safe because of, “serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure.” If it is so unsafe, why did the FDA not rescind its 60-year-old approval?
It is worth noting that diseases treated by hydroxy for the past half century can cause these problems as well. As can COVID, which if severe, can also cause death. So, the FDA deems it safe to treat those sick with lupus and autoimmune diseases with hydroxy but not those sick or hospitalized with COVID.
Several days ago, a group of physicians called “America’s Frontline Doctors held a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building discussing the coronavirus and hydroxychloroquine. One physician in particular, Dr Stella Immanuel, gave an impassioned shout-out for hydroxy:
I’m here because I have personally treated over 350 patients with COVID. Patients that have diabetes, patients that have high blood pressure, patients that have asthma, old people … I think my oldest patient is 92 … 87-year old. And the result has been the same. I put them on hydroxychloroquine, I put them on zinc, I put them on Zithromax, and they’re all well.
All of you doctors that are waiting for data, if six months down the line you actually found out that this data shows that this medication works, how about your patients that have died? You want a double-blinded study where people are dying? It’s unethical. So guys, we don’t need to die. There is a cure.
Not content with censorship, the media attacked the messenger, Dr. Immanuel, slamming her religious views and some supposed previous comments on alien DNA. Before CNN makes fun of alien DNA ,they should note that Dr. Immanuel holds a Texas medical license in good standing with no disciplinary or malpractice actions against her.
Some studies say hydroxy doesn’t work, like giving hydroxy to patients too sick to benefit, already on a ventilator, as in the VA study. Other studies found safety concerns and were published in prestigious medical journals like The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine, only to be discovered to be bogus and retracted. Still other studies, as from the Henry Ford Health System noted that hydroxy cut the death rate in half.
This chart from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons shows a much lower case fatality rate in countries where hydroxy is allowed and encouraged rather than banned or discouraged.
Credit: AAPS Online, fair use
Dr. Fauci says all the ‘valid’ scientific data shows hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective in treating coronavirus.” Perhaps he missed the Henry Ford study. Or conveniently forgot last March when asked if he would prescribe hydroxy he said, “Yeah, of course, particularly if people have no other option.” What other options are there? A ventilator? The morgue?
EDITOR’S INSERT …. VIEW +++ Fauci 8-22-05' "Chloroquine Is a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread”
The science isn’t settled as science rarely is. Coffee caused cancer until it was found beneficial in prolonging life. Butter was a killer until it became healthy. In the big scheme of risk versus benefit, hydroxy, in the opinion of this physician, falls on the benefit side. Ultimately, it’s about choice, that of the patient and their doctor.
Why then all the hysteria about hydroxy? One reason is that President Trump touted it. That’s enough reason to be against it. Other potential treatments have been suggested for COVID, including Remdesivir, statins, and antacids. These were promoted by prominent institutions including Columbia University and Massachusetts General Hospital, but none of them have panned out as a successful treatment. And all have side effects, some serious.
Were proponents castigated and cancelled? Were Fox News anchors telling viewers that statins will kill you? Would these potential but failed treatments have been maligned by the media if Trump had suggested them rather than simply ignoring them when they didn’t pan out?
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Denver-based physician and freelance writer.
Ever since President Trump mentioned hydroxy as a possible therapeutic, the media have castigated it as worse than rat poison. They've criticized any use of it in a constant barrage of fear, telling everyone that this 60-year-old drug would kill anyone who dared tak 8-e it.
When Trump mentioned he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative, Fox News' Neil Cavuto told his audience, “I cannot stress enough. This will kill you.” Tell that to those Americans taking hydroxy to the tune of five million prescriptions written each year.
Hydroxy was FDA-approved in 1955 and is taken for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. FDA approval means the approved drug is both efficacious and safe. All of a sudden, after 60 years, the FDA decided hydroxy is no longer safe because of, “serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure.” If it is so unsafe, why did the FDA not rescind its 60-year-old approval?
It is worth noting that diseases treated by hydroxy for the past half century can cause these problems as well. As can COVID, which if severe, can also cause death. So, the FDA deems it safe to treat those sick with lupus and autoimmune diseases with hydroxy but not those sick or hospitalized with COVID.
Several days ago, a group of physicians called “America’s Frontline Doctors held a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building discussing the coronavirus and hydroxychloroquine. One physician in particular, Dr Stella Immanuel, gave an impassioned shout-out for hydroxy:
I’m here because I have personally treated over 350 patients with COVID. Patients that have diabetes, patients that have high blood pressure, patients that have asthma, old people … I think my oldest patient is 92 … 87-year old. And the result has been the same. I put them on hydroxychloroquine, I put them on zinc, I put them on Zithromax, and they’re all well.
All of you doctors that are waiting for data, if six months down the line you actually found out that this data shows that this medication works, how about your patients that have died? You want a double-blinded study where people are dying? It’s unethical. So guys, we don’t need to die. There is a cure.
Not content with censorship, the media attacked the messenger, Dr. Immanuel, slamming her religious views and some supposed previous comments on alien DNA. Before CNN makes fun of alien DNA ,they should note that Dr. Immanuel holds a Texas medical license in good standing with no disciplinary or malpractice actions against her.
Some studies say hydroxy doesn’t work, like giving hydroxy to patients too sick to benefit, already on a ventilator, as in the VA study. Other studies found safety concerns and were published in prestigious medical journals like The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine, only to be discovered to be bogus and retracted. Still other studies, as from the Henry Ford Health System noted that hydroxy cut the death rate in half.
This chart from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons shows a much lower case fatality rate in countries where hydroxy is allowed and encouraged rather than banned or discouraged.
Credit: AAPS Online, fair use
Dr. Fauci says all the ‘valid’ scientific data shows hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective in treating coronavirus.” Perhaps he missed the Henry Ford study. Or conveniently forgot last March when asked if he would prescribe hydroxy he said, “Yeah, of course, particularly if people have no other option.” What other options are there? A ventilator? The morgue?
The science isn’t settled as science rarely is. Coffee caused cancer until it was found beneficial in prolonging life. Butter was a killer until it became healthy. In the big scheme of risk versus benefit, hydroxy, in the opinion of this physician, falls on the benefit side. Ultimately, it’s about choice, that of the patient and their doctor.
Why then all the hysteria about hydroxy? One reason is that President Trump touted it. That’s enough reason to be against it. Other potential treatments have been suggested for COVID, including Remdesivir, statins, and antacids. These were promoted by prominent institutions including Columbia University and Massachusetts General Hospital, but none of them have panned out as a successful treatment. And all have side effects, some serious.
Were proponents castigated and cancelled? Were Fox News anchors telling viewers that statins will kill you? Would these potential but failed treatments have been maligned by the media if Trump had suggested them rather than simply ignoring them when they didn’t pan out?
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Denver-based physician and freelance writer.
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