Trump admin ignored concern over HCQ import: Fired US scientist

Washington: A fired American scientist has alleged that the Trump administration ignored the concern of doctors in the US over the importation of hydroxychloroquine from "uninspected factories" in India and Pakistan and flooded the country with the "unproven and potentially dangerous" anti-malarial drug.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday before the US Office of Special Counsel, which oversees the protection of whistleblowers, Rick Bright alleged that top officials of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) repeatedly ignored his messages and that of others over the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and medicines like hydroxychloroquine in particular. When fired, Bright was the head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a research agency within the HHS. He reported directly to Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary of preparedness and response at the HHS.

"Dr Bright remained extremely concerned about the drug's importation from Pakistan and India because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had not inspected the drugs or the factory that produced them," the complaint said. "In Dr Bright's experience, drugs from uninspected factories can be contaminated or dosed improperly and this could obviously be dangerous to those who took the medication.

"Apparently unconcerned about t his known danger, Dr Kadlec and others in the administration sought to 'flood' the marketplace with these drugs," it alleged. The Trump administration imported nearly five crore units of hydroxychloroquine which in March received Emergency Use Authorisation from the FDA. The Trump administration, the complaint said, was not interested in hearing from Bright and his department or subject matter experts.

"Dr Bright and his team had apparently spent all their political capital in their effort to limit chloroquine and rushing into a potentially dangerous situation and that there was no one to help stop the push to 'flood' the country with this unproven and potentially dangerous drug," the complaint said.