Donald Trump has a financial interest in a company that manufactures the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in Europe. Trump has repeatedly pushed the unproven drug as a treatment for coronavirus during White House press briefings.
Trump says some remarkably irresponsible stuff about hydroxychloroquin: "What do you have to lose? Take it. I really think they should take it … try it, if you'd like." pic.twitter.com/ULjKRfqEG5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 4, 2020
The NYT reports: “If hydroxychloroquine becomes an accepted treatment, several pharmaceutical companies stand to profit, including shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president. Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.”
Earlier this week, reports emerged that “one of the largest manufacturers of the drug, Novartis, previously paid Trump's now-incarcerated former personal attorney Michael Cohen more than $1 million for healthcare policy insight following Trump's election in 2016. … Fast forward a few years and Cohen is currently in federal prison serving a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud. Novartis, on the other hand, just agreed to donate up to 130 million doses of the unproven drug to help fight COVID-19.“
