Trump Expected to Detail New Virus Therapies, but Expansion Could Be Controversial.
Desperate to get drugs to Americans amid a coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump plans to detail a range of therapies that might help patients but all of which are in very early testing, according to people familiar with the matter.
The plan is expected to be detailed by President Trump at a briefing Thursday, the people said.
The plan could be controversial. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the White House was urging an executive order that would take virtually all investigational drugs and allow them to be used quickly against the coronavirus, a step that senior officials of the Food and Drug Administration pushed back on because they contend the step could likely harm patients.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that Mr. Trump is “going to make sure that even drugs on an experimental basis get available to the American people.” Andre Kalil, a University of Nebraska Medical Center professor who is testing one drug, remdesivir, said, “There are a number of drugs being tested, but at this time there is not a single drug proven or safe to treat Covid-19.”
