Trump says US has bought 29m hydroxychloroquine pills – a day after Fauci clashed with WH over unproven coronavirus drug – The Sun

PRESIDENT Trump said the US purchased 29 million hydroxychloroquine pills after Dr Fauci questioned whether the drug could even treat coronavirus.

Trump said they bought a "tremendous amount" of the malaria medication during Sunday's COVID-19 press briefing, where he again touted the benefits of the drug also used to treat lupus and arthritis.

"There are signs that it works on this [coronavirus], strong signs," Trump told reporters today, citing "strong and powerful signs" of it working on coronavirus. "It’s been around a long time."

Axios reports task force members Fauci and economic adviser, Peter Navarro, were at loggerheads over the recommendation on Saturday, with the top doc saying it was unproven and based on anecdotal evidence.

Navarro reportedly shot back that the reports were based on "science, not anecdote" during the heated exchange, before Trump confirmed millions of doses would be added to the Strategic National Stockpile.

The clinical trials are ongoing but researchers cited inadequate studies in China and France where control groups weren't included, according to Axios.

But Trump said they didn't have time to wait around for "test tubes and the labs" as the killer bug claims the lives of thousands of nearly 10,000 Americans.

He insisted the FDA rapidly approved the meds because it's been tried and tested, adding "what do you have to lose."

"I want people to live and I'm seeing people dying," he said Sunday. "I've seen people who are going to die without it […] As we speak, there are people dying."

Advisors like Rudy Giuliani have also touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID patients after initially downplaying the seriousness of the virus.

The ex-NYC mayor has hailed the benefits of the malaria tablets on Twitter, saying "there is ZERO room for politics when American lives are on the line" and promoting a French study on it.

But back in March, Giuliani appeared to be unconcerned about the deadly affects of the virus when he compared the then 27 deaths to heart disease and flu.

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