Complaint: Trump Imported Untested Drug from India to Treat Coronavirus Patients

Since Trump himself has been promoting this untested drug like a salesman, his commercial interests in the deal cannot be ruled out.

By Rakesh Raman

A new whistleblower complaint in the U.S. claims that President Donald Trump* exerted undue pressure on his officials to import a spurious drug from India to treat coronavirus (Covid-19) patients.

In his complaint, Dr. Rick Bright alleges that the Trump Administration had decided to distribute malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in large quantities across Covid hotspots in New York and New Jersey.

*President Donald Trump is the third president in the U.S. history to get impeached. But he was not removed from office because of the flawed justice system in the U.S., while the dishonest Republican Senators did not allow the Senate trial to take place.

Since Trump himself has been promoting this untested drug like a salesman, his commercial interests in the deal cannot be ruled out.

The complainant Dr. Bright – who worked as a director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority – claims that when he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, he was shifted to an insignificant role.

Trump was so eager to import the drug particularly from India that in April he even threatened PM Narendra Modi with retaliation if he failed to send the drug to the U.S.

Earlier, in February, when the U.S. was already experiencing coronavirus infection and deaths, Trump ignored the health guidelines and visited India with a large crowd. He even participated in a crowded “Namaste Trump” event on February 24 in India where hundreds of thousands of people broke social-distancing guidelines to stand close to each other. It is presumed that during their meeting in India, Trump and Modi had surreptitiously planned this dubious deal.

In his 89-page complaint, Dr. Bright states that the Trump Administration promoted hydroxychloroquine as a panacea and demanded that New York and New Jersey be “flooded” with these drugs, which were imported from factories in Pakistan and India that had not been inspected by the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration). He has supported his claims with emails and other documentary evidence.

According to the complaint, President Trump falsely stated during a White House press conference that clinical trials of chloroquine and/or hydroxychloroquine were producing “very, very encouraging early results” and promised the American public that his Administration was “going to be able to make this drug available almost immediately.

Dr. Bright said he and his FDA colleagues were concerned about the quality and potential toxicity of chloroquine supplies produced and shipped in from facilities in India and Pakistan that were not approved by the FDA, and were therefore not approved to be used in the U.S. marketplace.

Meanwhile, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., chair of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health, has planned to hold a hearing into Dr. Bright’s complaint next week, beginning May 11, in which Dr. Bright is expected to testify.

As the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine which is being used on coronavirus patients has not been approved by the FDA, it has serious risks and can cause fatal complications for the patients. But strangely India is exporting hydroxychloroquine to 55 countries.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications and research reports on different subjects. These publications include the “Covid Health Bulletin” that covers global coronavirus news and views.