Trump: FDA hydroxy warning based on 'phony study'

President Donald Trump is emphatically defending his use of a malaria drug against the coronavirus and insisting, without evidence, that a study of veterans showing possible negative effects was "phony" and meant to embarrass him. (May 19) President Donald Trump emphatically defended himself Tuesday against criticism from medical experts that his announced use of a malaria drug against the coronavirus could spark wide misuse by Americans of the unproven treatment with potentially fatal side effects. Trump's revelation a day earlier that he was taking hydroxychloroquine caught many in his administration by surprise and set off an urgent effort by officials to justify his action. But their attempt to address the concerns of health professionals was undercut by the president himself. Speaking during a Cabinet meeting in the White House East Room, Trump asserted without evidence that a study of veterans raising alarm about the drug was "false" and "phony" and "given by obviously not friends of the administration." Trump said the study was conducted using only "very sick people, extremely sick people, people that were ready to die." That was an apparent reference to a study of hundreds of patients treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs in which more of those in a group who were administered hydroxychloroquine died than among those who weren't. The Food and Drug Administration warned health professionals last month that the drug should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of hospital or research settings due to sometimes fatal side effects. Regulators issued the alert, in part, based on increased reports of dangerous side effects called in to U.S. poison control centers. Still, Trump maintained Tuesday that "what has been determined is it doesn't harm you. Very powerful drug, I guess, but it doesn't harm you." He said hydroxychloroquine has "gotten a bad reputation only because I'm promoting it." But the drug has not been shown to combat the virus in a multitude of other studies as well. Two large observational studies, each involving around 1,400 patients in New York, recently found no COVID benefit from hydroxychloroquine. Two new ones published last week in the medical journal BMJ reached the same conclusion. Trump said he decided to take hydroxychloroquine after two White House staffers tested positive for the disease, but he already had spent months promoting the drug as a potential cure or preventive despite the cautionary advice of many of his administration's top medical professionals. Subscribe for more Breaking News: http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress Website: https://apnews.com Twitter:   / ap   Facebook:   / apnews   Google+: https://plus.google.com/1158922418018... Instagram:   / apnews   ​ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...