If you wonder why Trump was touting an unproven treatment

[Scooter]

No need to look further than his usual motive - he will profit personally from it:

Donald Trump Has Stake In Hydroxychloroquine Drugmaker: Report

President Donald Trump reportedly owns a stake in a company that produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there’s no strong evidence it works.

Trump “has a small personal financial interest” in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported Monday.

In addition, Sanofi’s largest shareholders include a mutual fund company run by major Republican donor Ken Fisher, the paper said. Trump’s three family trusts, as of last year, each had investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding was Sanofi, according to the Times. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also had ties to the drugmaker, the Times reported.

Trump’s “assertiveness” in promoting the drug contrary to the recommendation of top health experts “has raised questions about his motives,” the Times noted.

A chorus of Trump supporters with no medical expertise have backed the president’s urging of doctors to treat COVID-19 patients with the drug, including his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Fox News host Sean Hannity.

In the face of warnings from top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci that the drug’s safety and effectiveness are uncertain in treating COVID-19, Trump has continued to laud its supposed benefits.

“What do you have to lose?” he asked at a press briefing this week urging those sick with the virus to take the drug.

Turns out plenty.

“There could be deaths,” American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris said. “This is a new virus, and so we should not be promoting any medication or drug for any disease that has not been proven and approved by the FDA.”

Generic drugmakers also are gearing up to produce hydroxychloroquine pills. One of those companies was co-founded by Trump golfing buddy Chirag Patel, according to the Times.

The White House didn’t immediately answer HuffPost’s request for comment.

John Dillard, a spokesperson for Fisher Investments, called the Times article a “false report” and said Sanofi “is neither a material holding of Fisher Investments nor of Ken Fisher personally.” He also took issue with the characterization of his boss as a Republican donor, saying Fisher also had contributed to Democrats in the past.

[Lord Jim]

Gee, what a shock...

[eddieq]

Grifters gonna grift

[Big RR]

ohn Dillard, a spokesperson for Fisher Investments, called the Times article a “false report” and said Sanofi “is neither a material holding of Fisher Investments nor of Ken Fisher personally.”

this should be easy enough to check; from their site

Sanofi is neither a material holding of Fisher Investments nor of Ken Fisher personally. The company represents less than 0.8% of Fisher Investments' portfolio, and the firm's ownership is less than 0.7% of Sanofi.

Sanofi reports 1.25 billion outstanding common stock shares; 1% ownership would be 10 million shares, 0.7% would be around 7 million shares; not exactly a minor holding.

[Scooter]

Trump made his pronouncement about "game changing" hydroxychloroquine on March 19. Since hitting a low of $38.03 on March 20, Sanofi stock has since rebounded to $45.35 today, erasing the larger part of its losses since the markets tanked (link). That's a gain of over $51 million on Fisher's investment, which I would call pretty fucking material.

If this had been the first time that Trump had made calculated moves to influence the markets, I might be less suspicious. But it has been such an obvious pattern of his presidency...

[RayThom]

Yes, I posted the MSN link earlier in one of the other threads.

[RayThom]

See above.

[Big RR]

Can you imagine how his minions and Rush et al. would be screaming if Obamadid this? Of course, he wouldn't be so stupid as to promote a treatment his experts wouldn't support, but that's beside the point.

And this is exactly why presidents shouldn't be in any business, and should put their investments in a blind trust during their tenure in office. ; but the cheetoh in chief would never even consider doing that. But then integrity was never one of his attributes, and I doubt is even something he could define.

[Econoline]

"Your winnings, Mister President."

[Jarlaxle]

Verdict: false.

[Crackpot]

From breitbart?

[Econoline]

I had the same reaction, CP, but in this case, Snopes agrees. ("Mostly false.")


ETA: But can anyone honestly say that when they first read this (admittedly inaccurate) story, that their immediate thought was any variation of, "Oh no, that can't be true, Trump wouldn't do that, that's not the sort of person he is!"??? (No, I didn't think so...The Captain Renault "shocked! shocked!" response was much more likely, right?)

[BoSoxGal]

It’s true that Trump's personal interest in Sanofi is small dollar.

It’s also true that Trump has a crony/major fundraiser who is big at Sanofi.

And this is also true:

‘Dark money’ groups pushed Trump to back unproven COVID-19 treatment
By Tatyana Monnay
April 8, 2020 11:39 am

A conservative “dark money” group that received funding from the pharmaceutical industry’s largest trade organization pushed President Donald Trump to use unproven antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 and make it more widely available.

Last month, the conservative nonprofit group Job Creators Network collaborated with health care nonprofit Physicians for Reform to launch an online petition, a series of Facebook ads and a mass text message campaign urging Trump to make hydroxychloroquine available to treat patients battling COVID-19, Sludge reported. These groups do not disclose their sources of funding.

“There is clear and ever-mounting evidence that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine can significantly help patients who contract coronavirus,” the petition read.

One of Trump’s most influential supporters, Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, founded the Job Creators Network in 2011. Marcus gave $7 million to outside groups supporting Trump’s 2016 presidential run. He also gave $100,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action in 2018 to further support Trump’s second presidential bid and plans to spend even more to support Trump’s reelection.

Physicians for Reform often works with conservative advocacy group Freedomworks to influence the deregulation of health care policies.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America gave millions in grants to conservative groups in 2018 that pushed industry-friendly policies to Trump, according to tax returns analyzed by OpenSecrets. The industry’s top lobbying group gave FreedomWorks $100,000 in 2018. It also gave $500,000 to the Job Creators Network in 2017.

PhRMA represents the most powerful drug companies in the country such as Bayer, Novartis and Teva. These companies, along with Mylan, have pledged to donate 200 million hydroxychloroquine tablets for clinical testing, according to Job Creators Network’s petition. These pharmaceuticals stand to profit the most if the drug is officially used to treat COVID-19.

Sandoz, a division of Novartis, donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate to the Department of Health and Human Services. Bayer also donated one million doses of medical grade chloroquine phosphate to the Strategic National Stockpile last month.

PhRMA spent a record $29.3 million on lobbying in 2019. It hired 183 lobbyists to influence policy on its behalf. More than 70 percent of its lobbyists formerly held a position in government.

The New York Times reported Trump’s three family trusts each had investments in mutual funds, whose largest holding was in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes the hydroxychloroquine brand name Plaquenil.

There is no strong evidence that the drug is effective or safe to treat patients infected with COVID-19. Axios reported that infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci argued that hydroxychloroquine is unproven to combat COVID-19 and claims that the drug is successful are based on anecdotal evidence.

Despite limited evidence on the drugs’ effectiveness in COVID-19 treatment, Trump has repeatedly promoted the use of the drug in the White House’s coronavirus briefings. Some doctors prescribing hydroxychloroquine in combination with other medications are seeing positive results in patients’ health.

There is a shortage of hydroxychloroquine, which is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat malaria, arthritis and lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. The shortage is driven in part by doctors hoarding it and prescribing it to themselves, families and friends, ProPublica reported. Now, lupus patients are struggling to fill their prescriptions.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/0 ... loroquine/

[Econoline]

Now I'm SHOCKED, SHOCKED again...