The ridiculous assault on hydroxychloroquine by the media and the political left just needs to end. The research on the drug, related specifically to SARS CoV-1, is over a decade old and was performed by our own National Institutes of Health (NIH). The fact that practicing physicians are being censored for advocating the use of the medication on an outpatient basis and prophylactically is patently insane.
The fact that Donald Trump Jr. had his Twitter account locked for sharing the video of licensed doctors making their case for its use is just nuts. For social media platforms that insist people follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO)., they must have missed this statement:
This evidence does not apply to the use of hydroxychloroquine for preventing #COVID19 infections or treating non-hospitalized patients, two areas where we still need more evidence on the drug's effectiveness against the #coronavirus.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 18, 2020
Nothing from the WHO or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled out the use of the drug to prevent COVID-19 or treat it in the outpatient setting. The trials mentioned in the tweet were for late-stage disease and often utilized exceptionally high doses with the potential for toxicity. The FDA eliminated compassionate use for late-stage COVID-19. It has not made a determination on outpatient use and there are 243 ongoing trials globally according to the NIH.
The president has science behind his optimism about hydroxychloroquine
The studies referenced by the WHO in the tweet above are the same ones criticized by the members of America’s Frontline Doctors, who gave the press conference yesterday. The video went viral and the censors are out in force, despite their statements not violating current WHO guidance. They are real doctors with real licenses and real practices. You may check them out yourself.
In full disclosure, I am a licensed nurse in the state of New York. I no longer work in that capacity, but that does not negate years of education and experience. I began researching COVID-19 early in the pandemic because friends and family often rely on me for guidance and information on health-related matters.
While I support President Trump and will be voting for him in November, nothing I will say here is influenced by that fact. This is the same information I have given my own parents, who, due to their age, are high-risk by definition. I encourage you to do your own research and make your own health decisions.
Unfortunately, your choices for treatment are being limited by state and local governments in some cases. Information to help you is also being limited by the tech censors, so I will include as much here as I can.
Pulmonologist: Telling COVID-19 Patients to Stay Home Until They Have Shortness of Breath May Not Be Best Advice
Let’s start with a few basic things we know about COVID-19.
- The disease has three phases. The first is an upper respiratory infection that many people recover from without medical support. The second is respiratory inflammation which may cause clots. The more severe form is caused by an abnormal immune system response that can lead to sepsis, organ damage, and death.
- COVID-19 binds to the cell receptor ACE-2. So did the viruses first cousin, SARS. This is how it enters a cell.
- Coronaviruses are RNA viruses that need to hijack the body cell’s function to replicate or make new viruses
America’s Frontline Doctors are advocating for the use of hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and azithromycin early in the illness and prophylactically. The most emphatic physician did overstate her case calling the drug combination a “cure.” However, if it can be verified that all of her 350 patients are still alive, then her patients have been cured.
Media Should Do a Mea Culpa as French Analysis Offers a Stunning Observation About Hydroxychloroquine Use
While Dr. Stella Immanuel could have toned down her optimism, she and other doctors present cited a 2005 study from the NIH related to SARS as the reason for investigating hydroxychloroquine. I archived it here in case it is disappeared. (For clarity)
Results
We report, however, that chloroquine has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells. These inhibitory effects are observed when the cells are treated with the drug either before or after exposure to the virus, suggesting both prophylactic and therapeutic advantage. (preventing and treatind SARS) In addition to the well-known functions of chloroquine such as elevations of endosomal pH, the drug appears to interfere with terminal glycosylation of the cellular receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. (ACE-2 the receptor used by COVID-19) This may negatively influence the virus-receptor binding and abrogate the infection, with further ramifications by the elevation of vesicular pH, resulting in the inhibition of infection and spread of SARS CoV at clinically admissible concentrations. (May inhibit SARS from entering the cell to replicate)
Conclusion
Chloroquine is effective in preventing the spread of SARS CoV in cell culture. Favorable inhibition of virus spread was observed when the cells were either treated with chloroquine prior to or after SARS CoV infection. In addition, the indirect immunofluorescence assay described herein represents a simple and rapid method for screening SARS-CoV antiviral compounds.
Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have the same pharmacological action in the body. The latter is considered to be safer, which is why it is being used. Both drugs are also zinc ionophores. This means if the virus successfully enters the cells, they hold open the passage and pull more zinc in. Zinc interferes with the virus’s ability to replicate or photocopy its RNA. The NIH knows that too. Archived for posterity here.
Zn2+ Inhibits Coronavirus and Arterivirus RNA Polymerase Activity In Vitro and Zinc Ionophores Block the Replication of These Viruses in Cell Culture
Azithromycin or doxycycline both have an anti-inflammatory effect. Since the outpatient disease can include inflammation in the lungs, these are added to the treatment. Some doctors are now using inhaled steroids, also an anti-inflammatory, such as budesonide, to treat this symptom.
All of these drugs have excellent safety profiles, a long history of use, and are generic. This means they are inexpensive and could easily be made widely available. This was summarized by Dr. James Todero who also spoke at the press conference. I am including his entire commentary here because I think it is important.
“I just want to add a couple of comments to what Dr. Gold was saying. If it seems like there is an orchestrated attack that is going on against hydroxychloroquine, it’s because there is. When have you ever heard of a medication generating this degree of controversy? A 65-year-old drug that has been on the World Health Organization’s safe and essential list of medications for years. It is over-the-counter in many countries.
And what we are seeing is a lot on misinformation. I co-authored the first document on hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus back in March. That kind of kicked off the whole series of a storm on it. Since then there has been a tremendous amount of censorship on doctors like us and what we are saying. A number of us have already been censored.
That Google document I co-authored was actually pulled down by Google. And this is now after many studies have shown it is effective and safe. You still can’t read that document. So there is all this misinformation out there. Unfortunately, this has reached the highest orders of medicine.
In May there was an article published in Lancet. This is one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world. The World Health Organization stopped all of their trials on hydroxychloroquine because of this study. It was independent researchers like us who care about patients, who care about the truth, that dug into the study and determined it was actually fabricated data.
The data was not real. We did this so convincingly, the study was retracted by the Lancet less than two weeks after it was published. This is almost unheard of especially for a study of this magnitude. So I apologize to everyone for the fact there is so much misinformation out there. It is so hard to find the truth. Unfortunately, it is going to take looking at other places for the truth. That is why we formed Frontline Doctors to get real information out there.”
Dr. Joe Ladapo, a physician and researcher at UCLA, spoke as well. While he says there is data on both sides of the debate, the level of controversy is out of bounds. He asserts that the right answer amid a pandemic cannot be to limit doctors’ treatment options. Especially with a drug with such a good safety profile. He ended by saying the fact that both Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine have had to retract studies should raise alarm bells. This is unprecedented.
HCQ Helps Contain COVID-19 Cases: New Evidence and a Major Retraction
If you recall, President Trump expressed hope about both hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir in that fateful press conference. There were reasons to be hopeful about both. President Trump and researchers the world over did not land on hydroxychloroquine for no reason. You can see that from the NIH research alone.
Once they knew the similarities in the virus sequence to SARS and the basic way the virus was operating, it made perfect sense to investigate the drug. So why did the media attack only hydroxychloroquine? Why couldn’t Saint Fauci™ articulate the clear rationale for the drug’s potential? Especially after Remdesivir was shown to shorten hospital stays but not reduce deaths.
Remdesivir Gets a Price Tag of $3,210 Despite Showing No Evidence of Decreasing COVID-19 Deaths
I have my suspicions and they are not flattering for our health agencies. Or Saint Fauci™. The only concern right now should be keeping people out of the hospital, safely opening our economy, and reopening schools. I fear some in the bureaucracy have other agendas.
A tale of two drugs…
Remdesivir & HCQ both show promise for COVID-19
HCQ is discredited w/ fraudulent data, FDA warnings & overdoses
Remdesivir is praised w/ tightly guarded data by the NIH and a task force of Gilead investors/employees
HCQ: Under $10
Remdesivir: Over $3000— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) June 29, 2020
You can make your own conclusions. However, it appears America’s Frontline Doctors may have made too big an impression. Maybe too many calls to congressional offices?
Wow. It appears Squarespace took down our website today https://t.co/I6T8VoAoCr.
We are reaching new levels of censorship.
Do people agree with this? pic.twitter.com/K7e5kKZrZd
— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) July 28, 2020
President Trump should demand an investigation ASAP. Hydroxychloroquine is limited in 44 states. In some cases, the pharmacist can overrule a doctor’s prescription. This is unprecedented. In other cases, state medical boards are threatening doctors who prescribe it. There are 243 studies going on globally. Off-label use would be completely acceptable with this drug’s decades of use and safety profile.
I am very concerned that lives and health are being sacrificed for politics and profits. This needs to be rectified immediately.
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