President Trump: FDA is taking rapid steps to make items available for medical use
President Donald Trump provides updates on COVID-19 at the White House coronavirus task force briefing.
Bloomberg News was mocked for its report that "two grams" of the drug President Trump continues to tout in the battle against the coronavirus "can kill" people.
Trump has repeatedly pointed to chloroquine, a drug known to treat malaria, as a potential remedy for the virus at the center of the pandemic. However, members of the White House task force have downplayed the role of chloroquine since it has yet to be approved by the FDA to treat coronavirus and there has not been a clinical trial.
On Friday, Bloomberg News sounded the alarm in a report warning about the potency of the drug.
"The drug touted by the U.S. President Donald Trump as a possible line of treatment against the coronavirus comes with severe warnings in China and can kill in dosages as little as two grams," the story began.
"A Wuhan Institute of Virology study found that the drug can kill an adult just dosed at twice the daily amount recommended for treatment, which is one gram," the story later noted.
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Critics pointed out, however, that an overdose of any drug can lead to death.
"2 grams of almost any drug will kill you," National Review senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty pointed out.
"Every drug ever in history kills if overdosed... Even water kills if taken in excess," said Dr. Milton Wolf, a conservative activist. "The American media is garbage. They'll claim a cure is a killer just to bash @realDonaldTrump."
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"This story must be generating some sweet hate-traffic to still be up. It has to be the dumbest attack on Trump ever published, and there’s a lot of competition," Washington Free Beacon Executive Editor Brent Scher said.
"This story is absolutely ridiculous/a strawman. Nobody is prescribing patients 2000mg of chloroquine," political commentator Alicia Smith tweeted.
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