Bright was sidelined for one reason only - because he resisted efforts to provide unfettered access to potentially dangerous drugs, including chloroquine, a drug promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which is untested and possibly deadly when used improperly,” Bright’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa J. “In our filing we will make clear that Dr. It’s unclear what possible role famotidine may have in the treatment of COVID-19.īright’s lawyers said Thursday they were planning to file a federal whistleblower complaint, alleging he was reassigned to a lesser job in his department because he questioned Trump’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine. The design of the planned study appears to have been a key concern to Bright, according to the person familiar with the case.
The study proposed by Alchem and backed by senior officials at the department called for combining hydroxychloroquine with intravenous doses of famotidine, an anti-heartburn drug known by the brand name Pepcid. The internal fight over the study was part of a weeks-long clash pitting Bright and his team of immunologists against senior administration officials who, he says, were seeking regulatory approval for nationwide, unsupervised use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients.īright had been pushing for a controlled study of the drug before it was put into widespread use. The government awarded the contract to Alchem on April 14, a week before Bright was moved out of his job running the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a research agency within the Health and Human Services Department that, among other duties, was overseeing research on coronavirus vaccines.
The controversy began when Bright said he had been demoted because he resisted pressure from administration officials to provide widespread access to hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that President Trump repeatedly has touted as a potential cure for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
The contract with the laboratory introduces a new element to an episode that burst into public view this week.