Trump’s not a doctor. He’s only playing one on TV.

Washington Post logoEzekiel J. Emanuel is the chairman of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, a member of Joe Biden’s public health advisory committee and the author of the forthcoming book “Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care?” Vinay Prasad is associate professor of medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University and author of “Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer.”

President Trump has been promoting chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as “a game changer” in combating the coronavirus, perhaps in combination with the antibiotic Azithromycin. “As the expression goes, ‘What do we have to lose?’ ” Trump asked during Saturday’s media briefing. The answer is: a lot. Experience teaches that promoting untested drugs in this way is irresponsible patient care, sloppy science and dangerous public policy.

It is tempting to ask, as Trump suggests, whether the rigors of scientific inquiry are too demanding in the midst of a pandemic, a luxury of proof the country can’t afford. But laboratory studies and anecdotal treatment of individuals are notoriously unreliable at judging what truly saves lives. Indeed, just last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, we learned that one suggested combination that worked against SARS — lopinavir-ritonavir — does not help treat, much less cure coronavirus.

For patients infected with the coronavirus, particularly those whose condition is worsening, it is a natural human reaction to try something, anything. Unfortunately, this impulse is misguided. Indeed, these “what do we have to lose?” treatments can be very dangerous to individuals and the public health showing that we do have something to lose. Cancer, the oldest malady, offers useful guidance on covid-19, the youngest disease on Earth. Continue reading.